The crystallization of a hydrogen-charged melt-spun Mg76Ni19Y5 amorphous alloy was studied in order to understand the influence of hydrogen absorbed on the crystallization kinetics and mechanism. Hydrogenation does not affect the thermal stability, but decreases significantly the enthalpy of crystallization. The glass transition, which is well manifested in the hydrogen-free alloy, is not observed after hydrogen charging. The main crystalline phases in the H-free and H-charged alloys are the same after complete transformation, but with finer microstructure for the hydrogenated samples. Analysis of the crystallization kinetics reveals that during annealing of hydrogen charged Mg76Ni19Y5 growth of nanocrystals surrounded by amorphous phase takes place just in the beginning of the transformation, followed by grain growth in fully crystallized material, which is the main process.