Hungary has repealed national crypto-asset conversion validation rules and two related criminal offenses that carried prison terms of up to eight years, seeking to avoid conflict with the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework. Parliament passed Act XXXVIII of 2026 on July 31, with the changes taking effect on August 7 and abolishing validation checks previously required for European exchanges to operate legally in Hungary. Under the prior rules, converting crypto assets without validation was treated as an unauthorized crypto transaction under Act C of 2012 on the Criminal Code. “Abuse of crypto assets” covered exchanges of significant value through an unauthorized service, a misdemeanour punishable by up to two years in prison and up to five years for particularly significant value. “Unauthorized crypto-asset exchange service provision” targeted providers violating the validation obligation, a felony carrying up to three years’ imprisonment and up to eight years in more serious cases. Legal experts said the national regime was incompatible with the EU internal market and redundant after MiCA’s full implementation on July 1, and advised payment institutions, crypto-asset service providers, and intermediaries to unwind processes routing in-scope conversions through authorised validators. The repeal completes a reversal of 2025 restrictions after the April election brought the Tisza Party to power, following a European Commission investigation into MiCA compatibility.