The MNB-issued CASP authorisation attaches to the legal entity, not its shareholders. A share-purchase transfers control of the licensed firm and inherits whatever supervisory file the MNB has built on it. The licence itself does not move to a new entity; the entity moves to a new owner, subject to the MNB’s prior qualifying-holding approval. That approval examines the proposed acquirer’s fit-and-proper, source of funds and governance — separately from the licence file the MNB already cleared.

For most acquirers, yes. A de novo CASP application at the MNB runs roughly 6 to 9 months from a complete file, plus the substance build (registered office, Hungarian-resident senior management, Validator integration, banking arrangements). Acquiring an authorised CASP collapses that into the MNB qualifying-holding clock, which is shorter, runs on a defined statutory timeline, and can be filed in parallel with commercial diligence. The trade-off is what you are buying: target-specific diligence becomes the principal risk rather than application risk.

Yes. A Hungarian CASP authorisation is a MiCA authorisation, and MiCA authorisations passport into other EU and EEA member states by notification through the MNB. The Hungarian Validator obligation applies to transactions executed through the Hungarian establishment, not to passported activity originated in another member state, so the Validator regime is not a barrier to using the Hungarian licence as a regional platform. It does, however, attach to any volume kept on the Hungarian books.

Under MiCA Article 42 and the joint EBA/ESMA Guidelines on prudential assessment of qualifying holdings, prior MNB approval is required for acquisitions crossing 20%, 30% or 50% of voting rights or capital. The notification covers acquirer identity, source of funds, financial soundness, fit-and-proper of proposed directors and key function holders, and the business plan post-acquisition. The MNB has a defined working-day clock once the file is complete; the practical objective is to land complete on first submission rather than re-file.

The Validator regime under Decree 10/2025, effective 27 December 2025, requires every Hungarian crypto-to-fiat and crypto-to-crypto transaction to be pre-validated by a SARA-licensed Validator. For an acquirer this means three additional diligence items: which Validator the target uses, how the contractual relationship is structured (volume tiers, exclusivity, exit notice), and how the integration handles operational continuity if the Validator changes. None of this shows in the MNB licence file. We diligence it as a separate workstream on every Hungarian mandate.

Three running cost lines beyond initial capital: ongoing supervisory contributions to the MNB, the Validator service fee (per-transaction or volume-tiered, set by your SARA-licensed Validator), and the standard EU regulatory overhead (DORA ICT resilience, AML/CFT under Act LIII of 2017, financial reporting, audit). Substance, meaning the Hungarian registered office and locally based senior management, is not a closing cost but a continuing one. Targets with thin substance pre-closing are the ones that cost the most to integrate post-closing.