Prop money in videos: what is legal in the US, UK, Canada and Australia, and what stands in for cash when the money is crypto
Real notes, replica bills and novelty cash are three different things in law. Here is how each country that issues a major currency treats them on camera, what makes a prop bill turn into a crime, and the stand-in for a scene where the money is crypto.
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Three kinds of money you can put in front of a lens
On set, "money" can mean three objects, and the law treats them differently. The first is real currency. The second is a replica made to a country's copying rules. The third is the novelty note, the bill printed with a joke or a "movie money" slogan that follows no rules at all. Only the first two have a legal path, and every one of them becomes a crime the moment somebody hands it over as payment.
The rules belong to the country whose currency is copied, not to the country where you film or the platform where you post. A dollar replica shot in London is judged as a dollar replica. Each section below is drawn from the issuing authority's own page or the statute it cites. It is a planning aid, not legal advice. Last checked November 1, 2026.
Country by country
United States
Real notes are not the problem. The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco calls using US currency on camera "perfectly legal", with one exception it spells out: burning it is illegal.
For replicas, the statute is 18 U.S.C. 504, with 31 CFR 411.1 setting the details. A color illustration of a note is allowed if it is printed on one side only and is less than three-quarters or more than one and a half times the linear size of the real thing. The plates, files and anything else used to make it must be destroyed or deleted after final use. The law separately allows film and TV images of real currency, but no prints made from that footage without the Treasury's permission. Novelty notes are not named in the law; the San Francisco Fed's reading is that fakes outside these rules are illegal.
United Kingdom
The Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981 requires the Bank of England's consent to reproduce a note. Since February 2019 nobody has to apply: meeting the Bank's published conditions is the consent.
- A physical copy must be printed on one side, at least 25% smaller or larger than the real note, and then satisfy one of three tests: a clearly different material, a SPECIMEN overprint, or less than half of one side showing.
- The monarch's image may not be distorted. A changed portrait or changed text makes the item a novelty note, and it fails.
- Filming genuine notes counts as a digital reproduction. A note lying flat on screen with more than half of one side visible needs a SPECIMEN overprint unless it is slanted more than 20 degrees. With less than half of a side visible, it needs neither.
In practice a fanned stack or a holdall of bundles usually passes. A slow close-up of one flat £50 note is the shot that does not.
Canada
The Bank of Canada's reproduction policy sits on top of the Criminal Code and the Copyright Act. Copies must be less than three-quarters or more than one and a half times the real size. Color copies have to be single-sided, and any copy showing more than half of a side needs SPECIMEN across it. Commercial users need the Bank's written permission.
Novelty notes get no such route. The Bank refuses them, and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre states that novelty bank notes "are considered counterfeit in Canada". A seller's claim of "legal prop money" counts for nothing there.
Australia
The guidance comes from the Reserve Bank of Australia under the Crimes (Currency) Act 1981 and the Copyright Act 1968. Physical copies must be less than three-quarters or more than one and a half times the length and width of a note, and printed on one side. A digital image must be less than three-quarters of the size and at no more than 72 dpi. Files are destroyed after use, and film or video must not be usable to produce misleading copies. The Bank does not approve particular reproductions and advises taking legal advice, and it accepts footage of genuine notes only if it cannot be used to make copies that could pass as genuine.
Why the label on the bill protects nobody
"For Motion Picture Use Only" is a slogan, not a license. The Bank of Canada states that any reproduction, "including those for prop or training purposes", must comply with its policy. In the same way, the Bank of England says a note with altered text fails its conditions.
Where do the trouble cases come from? From bills that leave the set. The US Secret Service files notes printed with "Prop Money" or "Motion Picture Use Only" under "altered design notes", alongside notes with foreign text or the word "copy". It has tracked the category since 2015 and says altered design notes made up 10.4% of counterfeit notes passed in the US in 2025. Its explainer draws the line precisely: "Technically, someone must try to use the fake money as genuine U.S. currency for it to be counterfeit." Police in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, said much the same about prop $100 bills in 2018: "As soon as you present them as real currency, it then becomes a criminal offense."
Volume is the other problem. The SF Fed reports a Secret Service estimate that more than $2 million of prop money has been passed into circulation since the early 2000s, much of it walking off sets in the pockets of extras and bystanders. In Canada, Winnipeg police said in May 2025 that reports of fake cash had more than doubled from the same period of 2024, after they seized about $12,000 in notes printed with the words "prop money" and advertised for sale on social media.
What it is like to shoot with real cash
A big US production can legally use genuine notes. The San Francisco Fed's article on film work describes its Los Angeles branch supplying crews, and a cash services executive there recalls handing an actor a strap of new $20 bills take after take while keeping "a line of sight at all times". It also explains why that is the exception: real cash on set is a liability. For scenes that need many bundles, productions use straps in which only the first and last bills are real, and that is usually the point where they turn to a prop house.
When the stack of cash is a phone
Plenty of money scenes today skip the paper. The actor holds up a phone with a crypto balance on it, and the choice is the same: real or prop. But the real version leaks far more than a stack of bills. Cash on set can be stolen; that is its whole risk. A real wallet on camera shows an address, a QR code, a token list and recent activity, and Bitcoin.org's privacy page states the consequence: "Anyone can see the balance and all transactions of any address."
The stakes are physical too. Chainalysis, in its August 2026 report on violent attacks against crypto holders, counted a record $58 million stolen in 2025 and warned that "publicly disclosing cryptocurrency holdings, whether through social media, conference appearances, or on-chain activity linked to known identities, can make individuals targets."
So the screen needs a stand-in, the way the bill does. A larp wallet, also called a crypto wallet app simulator, builds a believable wallet screen from balances you type in. It holds nothing and reads no chain; it exists for videos, skits, pitch decks and demos. Our larp wallet guide covers the term and its other meanings.
| Scene element | With paper money | With crypto |
|---|---|---|
| Genuine article | Real notes: legal in the US, a theft target on set | Your own wallet: legal to film, but it can reveal an address, holdings and history |
| Stand-in | Replica bills made to the copying rules | A wallet screen built from typed balances |
| How it is flagged | Off-size, one-sided, SPECIMEN where required | A Mockup label that stays in frame while the wallet is visible |
| Where it goes wrong | The bills are used to pay for something | The screen is shown as a real balance, proof of funds or proof of gains |
Filming mechanics, from screen flicker to stray notifications, are covered in prop phone screens for film and in recording a wallet screen for video.
Habits for the day of the shoot
- Buy to the right country. A seller who says "legal" means one country's rules at the very best.
- Put one person in charge of the bundles. Log them at call time, collect them after each setup, and count again at wrap.
- Choose shots that read as money without inviting a close read. A fan of bills or a full bag works at a glance, while a lingering close-up on one flat note is where the UK and Canadian rules bite.
- Do not throw it, tip with it or give it away. Bills tossed into a crowd end up with people nobody can track.
- Say so in the credits or the description. "All currency shown is prop money. No real notes were used." answers the music video props disclaimer question before it is asked.
- Lock up or shred what is left over. The strays are the bills nobody counted.
One rule for both kinds of prop
A replica bill and a wallet mockup are for stories the audience knows are stories. The bill becomes counterfeit when it is handed over as payment. The mockup becomes a deception when it is presented as somebody's real holdings, proof of funds or a record of gains. Every figure on it was typed in, so it proves nothing about anyone's money, and our terms of use forbid passing it off as real.
That rules out showing a balance to a seller, a partner or an investor, and it rules out posting the money shot as "my wallet". What remains is what props were invented for: music videos, skits (30 money skit ideas lists what each needs), POV trader videos and parodies of the rich-larp genre.
Flexdger Wallet is built for that job. You choose the tokens and amounts, the prices move with the market, and the screen fills the phone in your shot. Like a good prop bill, it should read as money from across the room and say what it is up close, so leave the Mockup label in frame.
Sources
- Cornell LII, text of 18 U.S.C. 504 on printing and filming currency and securities, read 2026
- Cornell LII, text of 31 CFR 411.1 on authorized color illustrations, read 2026
- SF Fed blog post on US currency in film, 2019
- Secret Service guide to spotting fake money, 2025
- CBS Boston report on Fitchburg police and the prop $100 bills, 2018
- Bank of England page on using images of banknotes, updated June 2026
- Bank of Canada page on using bank note images, undated (read 2026)
- Bank of Canada page on counterfeit prevention, undated (read 2026)
- Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre page on counterfeit bank notes, 2026
- CBC News story on the $12K of "prop money" seized in Winnipeg, 2025
- Reserve Bank of Australia page on reproducing banknotes, undated (read 2026)
- Bitcoin.org privacy guide, read 2026
- Chainalysis report on violent wrench attacks on crypto holders, 2026
Questions
Does "for motion picture use only" make a bill legal?
No. The wording on a note changes nothing about whether it follows the rules. The Bank of Canada says any reproduction, "including those for prop or training purposes", must comply with its policy, and the Bank of England says a note with altered text fails its conditions.
Can I film real banknotes?
In the US, yes: the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco calls using US currency on camera "perfectly legal", though burning it is not. In the UK, filming a real note is a digital reproduction, so a flat note with more than half of one side visible needs a SPECIMEN overprint unless it is slanted more than 20 degrees.
What are the US size and printing rules for replicas?
Under 18 U.S.C. 504 and 31 CFR 411.1, color illustrations must be one-sided and less than three-quarters or more than one and a half times the linear size of a real note, and the plates and files must be destroyed or deleted after final use.
Are novelty notes accepted in Canada?
No. The Bank of Canada refuses them, and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre states that novelty bank notes are considered counterfeit in Canada. Only a reproduction that meets the Bank policy is allowed, and commercial users need written permission.
What does Australia require?
The Reserve Bank of Australia publishes guidelines under the Crimes (Currency) Act 1981: physical copies less than three-quarters or more than one and a half times the length and width of a note and printed on one side only, and digital images less than three-quarters in size and no more than 72 dpi. It advises taking legal advice.
What replaces cash when the money in the scene is crypto?
A wallet screen built from numbers you type yourself, with a Mockup label visible in the frame. Like a replica bill, it works in a story the audience knows is a story, and it becomes a deception once it is shown as someone's real holdings.