EU legislation on crypto-assets is based on the EU Regulation on Markets in Crypto Assets (as known as MiCA), which is directly applicable in the Member States, including Hungary.
The Hungarian Crypto-Assets Act (Act) provides for important additional detailed rules necessary for the implementation of the MiCA. The Act aims to comply with EU legislation and its provisions cover the issuance, public offering and introduction into trading of crypto-assets in Hungary, the provision of crypto-asset services in Hungary and the supervision of these activities. Service providers must comply in principle with the provisions of the MiCA.
The Act also regulates complaint handling, under which crypto service providers must ensure that customers can make a complaint verbally or in writing about the conduct, activity or omission of the service provider. The crypto service provider cannot charge the consumer any extra fee for investigating the complaint.
Supervision of crypto-asset providers in Hungary will be carried out by the Hungarian National Bank (MNB), acting in its capacity as the financial intermediary system supervisor. MNB is responsible for detecting and sanctioning any violations of the regulations, in particular but not exclusively the provisions of the MiCA, in connection with the provision of crypto-assets and market abuse related to crypto-assets. The sanctions that MNB may impose in the event of non-compliance with the relevant legislation are also listed in the Act. Acting in its supervisory capacity, MNB may, among other measures, suspend or prohibit the activities of crypto-asset providers and may impose fines of up to HUF 5 billion on legal entities in certain cases.
The Act will enter into force on 30 June 2024 and crypto-asset providers already in operation at the time of the entry into force and issuing crypto-assets other than asset-referenced tokens or electronic money tokens must comply with the requirements of MiCA by 1 January 2025 at the latest.
By Rita Parkanyi, Partner, KCG Partner
