is it legal to exchange your home currency for Japanese yen through a private person? there are many people from my home countries who buy and sell yen all the time. it is not a scam and many people use it. i was just wondering whether this is legal in Japan.
4 comments
What do you think? Is it legal? It is quite obvious no?
Of course it’s legal. So is trading Pokemon cards.
I guess if you wanted to get really technical, you’re supposed to declare any foreign exchange gains as profits on your tax return. But if this is all cash, who’s gonna know? And for small amounts no one will care.
It depends at what scale you’re doing it, and if you’re making commission etc as that would likely require a foreign exchange license.
it also depends on the context of who you’re doing it for (see the Vietnamese “underground banks” I did have a link but automod removed it so just research “underground banks” yourself)
The odd p2p to at the going exchange rate is likely not an issue though
One thing to be careful about when transacting privately, is the (increased?) risk of receiving counterfeit currency. There are some very high quality counterfeit notes circulating, in various currencies (eg: [USD “superdollar”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superdollar), [EUR](https://www.europol.europa.eu/media-press/newsroom/news/37-arrests-in-hit-counterfeiters-of-high-quality-%E2%82%AC500-fake-banknotes-in-spain-0), [CNY](https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/1935949/chinese-counterfeiters-banknotes-prove-so-good-they-fool), etc)