Six firms made the cut as Slovakia tightened its crypto rules

The new EU regime raises standards for providers but does not protect clients from losing their investment.

Almost one in seven Slovak adults has personal experience with crypto-assets. For many, however, that experience has not been trouble-free. More than a third of people with experience of crypto-assets have lost at least some of their holdings as a result of a technological or security incident, such as a cyberattack or losing access to an account, the latest survey by the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS), the country’s central bank, found.

Just as crypto-assets are reaching a broader public, the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, known as MiCA, is taking full effect across the bloc. It is intended to raise standards, remove unauthorised providers from the regulated market and help people distinguish supervised companies from those operating without permission.

This does not mean, however, that crypto-assets have become a safe investment.

“Regulation increases market safety, not certainty of returns,” said Martin Budaj, director of the NBS’s Financial Technologies and Innovations Department. “Crypto-assets remain a high-risk investment, and the risk is borne by the person who buys them.”