FAQs - Crypto-assets

The application for authorisation as a crypto-asset service provider shall be accompanied by evidence that the applicant crypto-asset service provider complies with the prudential safeguards requirements set out in Article 67 of the MiCA Regulation, pursuant to Article 62(2)(e) of the MiCA Regulation. Pursuant to Article 67(3) of the MiCA Regulation, fixed overheads for the previous year shall be calculated using the value resulting from the relevant accounting framework, by deducting the specified items from the total costs after the distribution of profits to shareholders or members in the last audited annual accounts. This requirement shall not apply to companies established less than one year before the application for authorisation is submitted, pursuant to Article 67(2) of the MiCA Regulation. In other cases, only audited accounts for the year 2024 shall be accepted.

Yes. Act No. 747/2004 Coll. on Financial Market Supervision in Section 40, paragraph 2, third sentence, stipulates that the calculation of the annual contribution shall, in appropriate cases, be based on the volume of assets reported in the financial statements audited by an auditor pursuant to Act No. 431/2002 Coll. on Accounting. Since this provision also applies to crypto-asset service providers who obtain a license to provide crypto-asset services from the NBS from 30 December 2024, these entities must have their financial statements audited by an auditor.

Financial institutions (including banks and crypto-asset service providers) must have policies, procedures and controls in place to manage money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) risks. Financial institutions (including banks and crypto-asset service providers) must have policies, procedures and controls in place to manage money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) risks. They should apply a risk-based approach to managing these risks, based on which each financial institution should identify, evaluate and understand the ML/TF risks to which it is exposed in its business and take appropriate measures to mitigate the identified risks. In practice, when managing risks, a situation may arise where a financial institution refuses to establish or terminate business relationships with individual customers or entire categories of customers associated with a higher ML/TF risk, or refuses to carry out transactions with a higher ML/TF risk. A financial institution’s decision not to establish or terminate a business relationship or not to carry out a transaction may or may not be in accordance with European legislation (Article 14(4) of Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council). The decisive factor is whether the financial institution has properly and individually considered the client’s risk profile. If it has not done so, such a refusal may be unjustified and may be a sign of ineffective ML/TF risk management. This method of ineffective risk management is called “de-risking”. The European Banking Authority (EBA) in its guidance (EBA/GL/2023/04) defines de-risking as “the refusal to establish or the decision to terminate business relationships with individual clients or categories of clients associated with a higher risk of money laundering and terrorist financing or to refuse to carry out transactions with a higher risk of money laundering and terrorist financing”. In the case of de-risking, it is a pan-European phenomenon consisting in denying access to financial services to those clients who may pose a higher to high ML/TF risk to financial institutions.

The crypto-asset sector and the provision of crypto-asset services is generally considered to be risky in terms of ML/TF risks. The European Commission’s Report on the Supranational ML/TF Risk Assessment (2022), Chapter 11 states that the main factors contributing to the riskiness of the crypto-asset sector are in particular:

a virtual environment enabling a high level of cross-border interaction with clients from third countries, including high-risk countries,

the high growth dynamics of this sector,

limited transparency of crypto-asset transactions,

insufficient identification of clients and beneficial owners involved in crypto-asset transactions,

insufficient verification of the origin of funds used to trade crypto-assets, and
insufficient awareness and understanding of crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) of AML/CFT obligations.

If you have the impression that a financial institution has committed de-risking towards you, we recommend that you proceed as described on the NBS website in this section. If possible, attach specific evidence to your complaint to support your claims. As for the fact that a financial institution acted without adequate justification, no legal regulation requires a financial institution to justify its clients for refusing to establish or for deciding to terminate a business relationship.

Financial institutions, including banks, generally take a cautious approach to risk management in relation to companies providing services with crypto-assets. In the initial phase of establishing a business relationship with a CASP – in addition to a detailed understanding of the CASP’s business model – the financial institution also examines the level of its knowledge and experience in the field of AML/CFT, since CASPs are obliged entities in terms of AML/CFT legislation, just like other financial institutions providing services to clients. It is necessary to explicitly state what activity the CASP performs at the first contact with the financial institution. It is also always necessary to declare truthful data when communicating with the financial institution, which the CASP can prove to the financial institution if necessary. A financial institution may be interested in how CASP has set up AML/CFT processes in relation to its clients, especially in the areas of:

performing due diligence in relation to clients,
performing transaction monitoring,
verifying the origin of clients’ funds in crypto-asset transactions,
screening clients for sanctions lists,
identifying politically exposed clients,
reporting unusual business operations to the Financial Intelligence Unit and
developing an AML program,
retaining data on clients and transactions.
In the initial phase of communication with a financial institution regarding account opening, the CASP must be prepared to provide the financial institution with comprehensive and detailed information on the nature of the business model, technological principles for providing crypto-asset services, the future client portfolio (including the expected structure – residents/non-residents), internal policies and risk management processes, including ML/TF risks, etc. The NBS’s AML expectations for CASP are listed on the NBS website.

In accordance with the above-mentioned guidelines, the NBS expects financial institutions, primarily banks, to:

have policies for managing the ML/TF risks to which they are exposed,
set out in the policies the distinguishing criteria between risks within the group and risks associated with individual clients belonging to the group,
the application of risk management policies should not lead to blanket rejection of clients,
have established criteria that they will use when determining the reasons WHY they will refuse/terminate cooperation with a client,
have considered and used all other AML measures before deciding to refuse/terminate cooperation with a client,
document each refusal to terminate a business relationship so that the NBS will be able to demonstrate such refusal or termination of a business relationship during supervision.

As follows from the above principles, before making a decision to refuse or terminate a business relationship with a client, financial institutions should ensure that they have considered and implemented all possible mitigating measures that could be reasonably applied in the given case and communicate this decision to clients, informing them of their right to contact the National Bank of Slovakia for a review of this procedure.

The application, including its annexes, must be submitted in Slovak. If any of the annexes are drawn up in another language, its officially certified translation into Slovak must also be submitted. The NBS may, based on the applicant’s written proposal, waive the submission of an officially certified translation of the technical documentation or other annex into Slovak if it is drawn up in Czech or in a language commonly used in the field of international finance, most often in English.

NBS will comply with the deadlines set out in the MiCA Regulation, while the simplified licensing procedure will not apply in Slovakia. NBS will assess whether the application is complete within 25 working days of receiving the application. If the application is complete, NBS will decide on its approval or rejection within 40 working days of receiving the complete application. The length of the licensing procedure is primarily influenced by the applicant’s preparedness. If you plan to apply for a permit under MiCA in Slovakia, we recommend that you contact NBS (crypto@nbs.sk) before submitting the application itself and use the so-called pre-licensing dialogue, which can help you improve the quality of your application and thereby shorten the length of the licensing procedure.

Summary: Distribution and advice on crypto-assets is not financial intermediation or financial advice. Financial agents and financial advisors could only carry out these activities until 30. 12. 2024, as an unregulated activity over which the NBS does not exercise supervision. The MiCA Regulation, which sets out the rules for the provision of services in the field of crypto-assets, applies from 30. 12. 2024. Crypto-asset services do not fall within the definition of a financial service within the meaning of Act No. 186/2009 Coll. on financial intermediation and financial advice and on amendments and supplements to certain acts, as amended (hereinafter referred to as “Act No. 186/2009 Coll.”). However, a business entity that is a financial agent or financial advisor may also carry out other business activities, since the subject of its activity regulated by Act 186/2009 Coll. is not exclusive in nature. The aforementioned persons could therefore distribute and provide advice on crypto-assets, but only until 30. 12. 2024 and only under the conditions specified in the law (e.g. Act No. 297/2008 Coll. on the protection against legalization of proceeds from crime and on protection against the financing of terrorism and on amendments and supplements to certain laws, if applicable to the activity in question), and in this response. If such a business entity provides or offers crypto-asset services, it may not present this activity as financial intermediation or financial advice, or present it in a way that would give the client or potential client the impression that it is financial intermediation or financial advice or that it is an activity under the supervision of the NBS. From 30. 12. 2024, based on Art. 59 of the MiCA Regulation, crypto-asset services may only be provided by crypto-asset service providers that have been granted a permit by the NBS or the competent authorities, as well as certain types of financial institutions based on compliance with the notification rules under Art. 60 of the MiCA Regulation. Authorizations to carry out financial intermediation based on a permit to carry out the activities of an independent financial agent or the entry of a subordinate financial agent in the relevant list in the relevant sub-register are not equivalent to an NBS permit to carry out the activities of a crypto-asset service provider. Other entities are not authorized to provide crypto-asset services and the MiCA Regulation does not provide for any exception to this rule that would be applicable, e.g., to financial agents or financial advisors. If a financial agent wants to perform an activity that meets the characteristics of providing crypto-asset services, it is necessary to apply to the NBS for a permit to perform one of the crypto-asset services activities (e.g., “providing advice on crypto-assets”). Submission of an application for a permit to provide crypto-asset services is possible from 30 December 2024, but the pre-licensing dialogue between the applicant and the NBS may begin earlier. The criteria for granting a permit and the framework requirements of the application are regulated by the MiCA Regulation. Details will be regulated by the implementing regulations representing the so-called level 2 legislation. More detailed information on the legislative process and ongoing public consultations on level 2 legislation is provided on the NBS website.

According to current Slovak legislation, a regulated trade is required to provide some services related to crypto-assets (providing virtual currency wallet services and providing virtual currency exchange services). On 30. 12. 2024, the previous legislation was replaced by the European MiCA regulation. Based on MiCA, crypto-asset service providers need a permit from the NBS or a relevant foreign supervisory authority for their activities. Persons who were authorised to provide virtual currency exchange services or virtual currency wallet services in the Slovak Republic before 30. 12. 2024 may perform crypto-asset services no later than 30.12. 2025. After this date, only those entities that have a permit to provide crypto-asset services from the NBS or a relevant foreign supervisory authority will be able to perform the activity in question.

A permit from the NBS will be required for the following crypto-asset services:

providing custody and management of crypto-assets on behalf of clients
operating a trading platform for crypto-assets
exchange of crypto-assets for funds
exchange of crypto-assets for other crypto-assets
execution of orders relating to crypto-assets on behalf of clients
placement of crypto-assets
reception and transmission of orders relating to crypto-assets on behalf of clients
providing advice on crypto-assets
providing portfolio management of crypto-assets
providing crypto-asset transfer services on behalf of clients
Definitions of individual crypto-asset services can be found in Art. 3(1) of the MiCA.

No. Natural and legal persons who buy/sell crypto assets on their own account and do not provide any crypto asset services as defined in Art. 3(1) of the MiCA do not need a permit from the NBS.

The parts of the MiCA regulation that relate to the provision of crypto-asset services began to apply on 30. 12. 2024. Persons who were authorized to provide virtual currency exchange services or virtual currency wallet services in the Slovak Republic before 30. 12. 2024 may perform crypto-asset-related services no later than 30. 12. 2025. After this date, only those entities that have a permit to provide crypto-asset services from the NBS or a relevant foreign supervisory authority will be able to perform the activity in question.

The requirements for obtaining a license for crypto-asset service providers are set out in Articles 59-65 of the MiCA and will be further specified in delegated and implementing regulations and guidelines prepared by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and the European Banking Authority (EBA). An overview of all relevant legislation can be found in the Regulation section.

The NBS will accept applications for a license to provide crypto-asset services after the delegated and implementing regulation on the requirements for a license application comes into effect. The decision to grant a license may take effect no earlier than 30 December 2024. The NBS offers applicants the opportunity to consult on the application before submitting it. If you are interested in consulting before submitting your application, please write to us at the email address: crypto@nbs.sk and send a detailed description of your business model, including the type of crypto-asset services pursuant to Art. 3(1) of the MiCA that you intend to provide.

Based on the so-called passporting (freedom of establishment, or free provision of services in the EU), an entity that obtains a permit to provide crypto-asset services from the NBS can freely provide these services in all EU member states.

Yes. Both the professional and lay public can participate in the consultation on the draft delegated and implementing regulations and guidelines prepared by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and the European Banking Authority (EBA). An overview of all open consultations can be found in the Regulation section as well as on the ESMA and EBA websites, where the method of participating in the consultations is also described. On behalf of the NBS, we would like to ask you to forward us the responses that you send to the EBA/ESMA, so that we have an overview of all responses from Slovak entities. You can forward your responses to us at the following email address: crypto@nbs.sk

All relevant legislation can be found in the Regulation section.