Hungary plans to decriminalize crypto trading after jail threats under Viktor Orban’s former government pushed platforms to suspend services.
The Hungarian government plans to reverse restrictions introduced last year on crypto trading, Bloomberg reports, citing government spokeswoman Anita Kobol.
The current rules require approved validation for crypto-to-fiat and crypto-to-crypto conversions. Moreover, users who trade through an unauthorized service could face up to two years in prison for transactions worth about $16,200 to $162,200, while larger cases could bring penalties of up to eight years, according to law firm CMS.
Service providers also faced criminal exposure for offering conversion services without meeting the validation requirements.
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Orban-Era Rules Hit Crypto Services
The Orban regime effectively added a local approval layer on top of European Union crypto rules, creating legal uncertainty for platforms and users.
As Bloomberg noted, the rules prompted several crypto platforms, including Revolut, to suspend services in Hungary.
Revolut separately said on its Hungary support pages that retail users can’t sign up for crypto services, buy or stake crypto, receive staking rewards or make withdrawals, while business users can’t place buy or sell orders.
As Kobol explained in commentary for Bloomberg, the restrictions led to a drop in crypto trading in Hungary and triggered an EU probe into whether the rules were compatible with the bloc’s framework.
The European Commission opened a case against Hungary earlier this year, arguing that the country’s extra validation system may clash with the EU’s MiCA crypto rules, CMS noted.
The reversal would also mark another break from Orban-era policy after Peter Magyar, a pro-European leader, replaced Orban as prime minister in May following an election in which his Tisza party won 141 of 199 seats, or about 71% of parliament.
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