Hungary Act VII of 2024 on the Crypto-Assets Market

The Act applies to the issuance of crypto-assets in Hungary, public offers of crypto-assets in Hungary, admission of crypto-assets to trading, crypto-asset services performed in Hungary, and supervisory activities assigned under the statute. In its current consolidated form, it also covers validation of crypto-asset exchange services performed in Hungary.

The statute is closely tied to Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, known as MiCA. Rather than creating a stand-alone taxonomy, it imports core MiCA concepts such as crypto-asset service provider, asset-referenced token, e-money token, public offer, retail holder, and advice on crypto-assets. Its explanatory memorandum states that the primary purpose of the bill was to transpose or display MiCA’s implementation rules in Hungarian law while supporting innovation, consumer and investor protection, legal certainty, financial stability, and monetary sovereignty.

For crypto-assets other than asset-referenced tokens or e-money tokens, the Act provides that public offers and requests for admission to trading must be made by legal persons that meet MiCA requirements. Asset-referenced token issuers, public offerors, and admission-to-trading applicants must also comply with MiCA. E-money token offers are limited to credit institutions or electronic money institutions that are the issuer and have sent and published the relevant crypto-asset white paper under MiCA.

Crypto-asset service providers must comply with MiCA requirements. MNB guidance explains that professional CASP activity in Hungary requires authorisation unless an exemption applies, and that MiCA recognises services such as custody and administration, trading platforms, exchange for funds or other crypto-assets, execution and transmission of orders, placing, advice, portfolio management, and transfer services.

The Act designates the Magyar Nemzeti Bank as the Hungarian supervisory authority for crypto-asset service providers unless another statute provides otherwise. It also requires crypto-asset service providers and asset-referenced token issuers to report significant ICT-related incidents to the national CSIRT, with voluntary significant cyber-threat reports to the MNB also copied to the CSIRT.

Consumer-facing provisions include complaint-handling channels for oral and written complaints, five-year retention for complaint records and telephone recordings, free complaint investigation, Hungarian-language complaint handling unless otherwise agreed, and a designated consumer-protection contact. The MNB may apply supervisory measures and sanctions for MiCA-related breaches and crypto-asset market abuse, including public notices, orders to cease unlawful conduct, suspensions or prohibitions of marketing communications or trading, online-access restrictions, position reductions, and fines under the MNB Act.

Hungary shortened MiCA’s CASP transitional period. Section 16 provides that a crypto-asset service provider already operating before December 30, 2024 had to comply with MiCA by July 1, 2025 at the latest.

Amendments adopted in 2025 added rules for crypto-asset exchange validation. Those provisions require, subject to SZTFH exceptions and implementation rules, validation for certain exchanges of crypto-assets for money or for other crypto-assets. SZTFH supervises authorised validation providers, keeps a register, and issued detailed rules for authorisation and registration. As of May 10, 2026, SZTFH’s registry listed two active validation providers.

On January 30, 2026, the European Commission opened infringement procedure INFR(2025)2174 against Hungary over the 2025 amendments, stating that the new exchange-validation authorisation regime and potential criminal liability were not provided under MiCA. The proceeding does not itself repeal or suspend the Hungarian statute, but it is a material status note for readers tracking MiCA implementation in Hungary.