Hungary crypto regulation has reached a turning point after the National Bank of Hungary granted its first domestic licence under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto Assets framework. CoinCash, once one of the country’s largest cryptocurrency brokers, can now prepare to restart services after months of suspension and regulatory uncertainty.

According to Hungarian business daily Világgazdaság, the central bank issued the crypto asset service provider, or CASP, licence to Tiwala Solutions Kft, the company operating CoinCash, on 20 July 2026. The decision makes it the first Hungarian-headquartered company authorised directly by the MNB under the EU’s MiCA rules.

The distinction is important: CoinCash is not necessarily the first licensed crypto platform accessible to Hungarian customers, as providers authorised elsewhere in the European Economic Area may operate across borders under the EU passporting system. It is, however, the first domestically established operator to complete the Hungarian central bank’s full licensing process.

What the licence allows CoinCash to offer

The authorisation covers six categories of crypto services: custody and administration, exchanging crypto assets for conventional currencies, exchanging one crypto asset for another, investment advice, portfolio management and crypto asset transfers.

This is considerably broader than CoinCash’s former core business of online currency conversion and Bitcoin ATMs. The company plans to restore its services gradually over the coming months, while introducing additional products covered by the new licence. Existing customers are expected to be informed directly about the reopening schedule, Világgazdaság reported.

CoinCash began operating in 2017 and later expanded through the acquisition of Hungarian crypto platform MrCoin. At its peak, it served tens of thousands of active customers and operated Hungary’s largest Bitcoin ATM network, according to the company information cited by the newspaper.

The company nevertheless suspended its exchange platform, ATM network and customer service on 18 December 2025, saying changes in the Hungarian regulatory environment made the temporary shutdown necessary. Its website continues to inform customers that services remain suspended while the company works to meet the applicable legal requirements.

Hungary crypto regulation goes beyond MiCA

For international readers, MiCA is the EU’s common regulatory system for crypto assets and companies providing related services. It introduces licensing, governance, consumer protection and capital requirements intended to bring the sector closer to the regulatory standards applied to conventional financial institutions.

The regulation also allows an authorised provider to offer services across the EU, subject to notification procedures. ESMA maintains a central register of authorised crypto asset service providers and has urged customers to verify whether the platform they use holds a valid MiCA licence.

Hungary has added another layer to the European framework. Crypto conversions targeting Hungarian customers must also be examined through an authorised validation system, which is supervised by the Supervisory Authority for Regulatory Affairs, known by its Hungarian abbreviation SZTFH.

The additional system requires a compliance statement for covered conversions between cryptocurrencies, or between crypto assets and conventional money. Legal analysts have described the Hungarian arrangement as unusual because it operates alongside the MNB’s licensing and supervisory powers under MiCA.

The lack of authorised validators contributed to serious uncertainty in late 2025. CoinCash, Revolut, eToro and other providers suspended or restricted their Hungarian crypto services as companies attempted to determine how the new requirements could be met.

That bottleneck has since begun to ease. The SZTFH’s public register currently lists two active crypto-conversion validation providers, Caduceus Zrt and Mikroháló Kft.

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A possible restart for the Hungarian crypto market

CoinCash’s licence demonstrates that a Hungarian-owned company can satisfy the MNB’s MiCA requirements, but it does not eliminate every obstacle facing the domestic market. Providers still need to integrate the separate validation process, maintain extensive customer identification systems and comply with anti-money-laundering and transaction-monitoring obligations.

For customers, stronger supervision could provide clearer complaint procedures and greater transparency about who controls their assets. A licence, however, does not remove the financial risks associated with cryptocurrencies, guarantee the value of investments or protect customers from market losses.

The development may also encourage other domestic companies to apply for authorisation rather than serving Hungary through foreign entities or leaving the market altogether. Competition will depend partly on how quickly CoinCash can restart and whether international platforms decide that complying with Hungary’s additional rules is commercially worthwhile.

The first MNB licence therefore does not mark a return to the lightly regulated crypto market of previous years. Instead, it signals the emergence of a smaller, more closely supervised sector in which operating legally requires substantially more capital, compliance expertise and institutional oversight.

For Hungary crypto regulation, the CoinCash decision is both a milestone and an experiment. It offers the clearest evidence so far that the country’s tightly controlled system can function, but the real test will be whether it can protect customers without driving competition and innovation out of the Hungarian market.

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