Buying Bitcoin in Japan

Is Crypto Legal in Japan?

Only a few regions have assented to the legal use of crypto, and it’s a rare thing, actually.

Australia, Canada, The United States, The European Union, South Korea, Britain, Germany, and – yes, Japan – are all on the list. Moreover, not only is Japan on the list, it most likely leads the way crafting the most progressive regulatory climate for crypto.

According to the Library of Congress, two groups were established in the FSA (Financial Services Agency) in 2014 and 2015, and as a result, we now have the regulation touching on crypto exchanges, money laundering and taxation.

If you want to start a crypto exchange, you should apply to the Finance Bureau, have an office in Japan and a representative who is resident in Japan.

As for money laundering policy, exchanges are obliged to notify authorities when a suspicious transaction is detected, and for that, every platform’s user normally goes through an indispensable KYC procedure.

But what about taxes? The profit earned by trading is subject to a rate up to 55%, considered miscellaneous income under the Income Tax Act and added to the amount of other income.

So, long story short: yes, crypto is legal in Japan.

Is Buying Crypto Easy in Japan?

It of course depends on what you call “easy”, but if you’ve ever used Amazon, eBay or PayPal, it shouldn’t be a problem, since you’ll most likely go to user-friendly exchanges, such as bitFlyer, Binance or Coinmama.

So, to buy Bitcoin in Japan, just download one of the crypto wallets, go through the KYC procedure on the exchange of your preference, add your debt/credit card, shoot the buy button and transact your crypto coins from the trading platform to your wallet.

On the other hand, if you’re one of those 70-year young Japanese samurais who for some weird reasons rarely read our guides, buying Bitcoin for the first time might be slightly challenging for you. No worries, though: just read about Bitcoin, wallets and exchanges, first, and that should do!

But in general, yes, buying crypto in Japan is not rocket science.

Can You Use Japanese Credit Cards to Buy Crypto?

Hm, what’s the best way to put it? If you can or cannot buy crypto with your credit card doesn’t always depend on the country where you live, but rather on the payment methods allowed by the trading platform.

For example, you can buy Bitcoin in Japan using your credit card on top of Coincheck, bitFlyer, CEX.IO, Binance etc., for example, with Japan Post Bank or Mizuho mastercards or visas that sound like a few good options, but they are definitely not the only options.

Hey, just a reminder. Of course, all said above works in a different way in places where crypto is banned.

So, hopefully, you’re not from Algeria, Egypt or Morocco, sitting there, enjoying a hot summer evening, reading this guide by accident and just for fun?

Because if you are, don’t add your credit card to any crypto trading exchange, since the government has banned virtual currency in your country and might want to persecute you on a criminal charge.

Best Crypto Wallets for the Japanese

And here we go again – because you live in Japan, it doesn’t mean that you should have some specific crypto wallet.

What’s interesting about the crypto niche in general is that there is no single producing country for crypto this and crypto that, but there are some solutions popular across the globe.

Note that there are several wallet types out there, in general: paper wallets, hardware wallets, online wallets and software wallets, which are basically also online wallets because they touch the Internet whenever needed.

As for hardware wallets, one of the well-established products is Ledger Nano S Plus, as for online storage, you can go for Blockchain.com, and with software wallets, try Exodus, Electrum or any other wallet you’ll find likable.

But before installing a wallet or buying one in the form of a hard drive, thoroughly research a few aspects:

• who will store your private keys,
• where your funds will be stored
• and how you can access them in case you lose sensitive information such as passwords or seed phrases.

Summary: Japan is Great for Crypto Users

That being said, buying Bitcoin in Japan is not only easy but also fun. Isn’t it nice to live in the country that embraces technological progress, including developments in crypto in blockchain?

That very much contrasts to the chronic scepticism and distrust so many governments express towards the niche.

In Japan, you can trade, you can shop, you can even accept Bitcoin as your payment method once you run your own business, and everything will be totally legal.