Leading European neobank Revolut has reinstated some of its cryptocurrency services in Hungary, which were suspended after Budapest introduced criminal liability for unauthorized transactions with digital assets.
Hungarian users of its app can now transfer their coins to other wallets, something they were unable to do until recently. The company had decided to temporarily halt withdrawals, among other operations, in the face of harsh penalties.
Revolut resumes some services in Hungary
London-headquartered fintech giant Revolut has partially restored its crypto-related services for Hungarian customers, most notably the option to send over 30 supported tokens to external wallets. This applies to previously deposited assets, as new deposits remain suspended.
The move comes after the platform stopped all its crypto features earlier this month, following the adoption of highly restrictive rules by the parliament in Budapest this past June, the English-language portal Hungary Today reported, quoting the business news outlet Portfolio.hu.
The new legislation, which went into force on July 1, threatens to punish both businesses and their clients for using or offering crypto services without national licensing. That’s regardless of whether a provider has been licensed in another EU jurisdiction.
Under its provisions, private individuals may get up to five years in prison for breaking the law, and operators of crypto platforms face up to eight years behind bars, depending on the value of the transactions they have processed.
Arguably, as a precaution, Revolut opted to freeze all crypto functions of its popular banking app, among which are buying, selling, depositing, staking, and even withdrawals.
“As of mid-July, withdrawals were re-enabled, and now staking-related features have been restored as well,” Hungary Today highlighted.
In a letter to its Hungarian customers, quoted by Portfolio.hu, Revolut wrote:
“We are pleased to announce that our staking services are available again.”
The fintech firm is also allowing users to access depositing, releasing, and staking rewards through its application, the Hungarian media reported in detail.
Key crypto features remain suspended
When Revolut announced it’s halting cryptocurrency-related services, it made it clear this is directly related to the recently introduced changes in Hungarian law. It also noted the measure will be in place until further notice, stating:
“Unfortunately, we cannot give an exact date when the services will be available again, but as soon as this happens, we will notify you immediately.”
The current recovery is only partial, though, as key features such as buying, selling, and receiving crypto, as well as new deposits, remain suspended for the time being.
In another notice, Revolut informed Hungarians that it has updated its crypto registration process for new customers:
“Due to changes in EU legislation, we temporarily suspend the registration of new crypto customers in some countries. This step was taken as a preparation for the new regulation on the cryptocurrency market (MiCA).”
At this point, the U.K.-based company is still pursuing licensing under MiCA, the European Union’s new Markets in Crypto Assets regulation.
“As our request for our MiCA license is still in progress, we have decided to pause new registrations to minimize regulatory risk and meet local requirements during the transition period,” the neobank explained.
It also pointed out that, besides Hungary, the break applies to all newly opened retail, Revolut X, and Business crypto accounts in the Netherlands, Finland, Latvia, and Slovenia as well.
The rules that Budapest is imposing on crypto firms and users are much harsher than what Brussels requires. Members of the crypto community in another Central European nation, Poland, which happens to be the region’s largest market for digital assets, have also expressed concerns about their upcoming regulations.
