Stripe expands its foreign exchange capabilities, allowing instant conversion of 15 currencies 24/7.
Stripe, a payment service provider, has announced 'Instant currency conversion,' which allows users to instantly exchange sales received in multiple currencies for other currencies on Stripe. Conversions can be made between 15 currencies 24 hours a day, and the existing 'Multi-currency settlement' service will also be expanded to include more regions and currencies.
New currency capabilities for global businesses to cut FX costs
For companies that receive sales from overseas customers, the costs associated with foreign exchange become a problem. For example, if sales received in dollars are exchanged into the domestic currency, and then exchanged again into dollars or another currency to pay overseas employees or business partners, the company will incur exchange fees twice. Stripe describes this situation of incurring exchange fees twice as a 'double FX trap.'
Furthermore, traditional methods required transferring funds received through payment services to bank accounts or foreign exchange services, waiting for the funds to be deposited, and then exchanging the currency. Combining multiple services such as payments, currency exchange, banking, and remittances increased management work and processing delays. According to Stripe, there was also the problem that it was difficult to predict the actual foreign exchange costs in advance due to markups included in the exchange rate.
Stripe has offered multi-currency settlement for about two years now, providing a system that allows businesses to retain sales balances in the currency in which customers paid. Normally, received funds are automatically converted to the account's standard currency, but with multi-currency settlement, businesses can leave the corresponding foreign currency on Stripe and use it for payments to business partners, refunds, and other purposes.
This announcement also expands the regions and currencies supported by Multi-currency settlement. According to Stripe, by the end of 2026, it will be possible to receive sales in up to 18 different currencies depending on the region, in 37 markets including Australia, Hong Kong, and Singapore. The number of companies using Multi-currency settlement increased by 35% between 2024 and 2025, and the number of companies using four or more currencies doubled. At the time of writing, Japan is not included in the list of countries where Multi-currency settlement is available, and the published roadmap does not indicate when it will be available in Japan.
Previously, even with Multi-currency settlement, which allowed users to hold funds in multiple currencies, exchanging them for another currency required waiting for deposits into an external bank account or foreign exchange service. The newly announced Instant currency conversion eliminates the need for external fund transfers, allowing users to directly exchange their Stripe balance from the Stripe Dashboard or mobile device. The converted funds will be immediately available in your Stripe balance.
Instant currency conversion supports 15 currencies, allowing users to check exchange rates in real time and convert anytime, 24/7. Stripe describes its fees as 'market-leading,' stating that the displayed exchange rates do not include any hidden markups and there are no extra charges for weekends. More currencies are planned to be added throughout 2026.
For situations where manual management is difficult, such as regular currency exchanges, an 'Instant currency conversion API' is available, allowing for automated currency conversion from the system. As of the time of writing, currency conversion via the API is in private preview, and access application is required to use it.
According to Stripe, 50% of companies that use Instant currency conversion for the first time perform multiple currency conversions within 60 days thereafter. Companies that use it multiple times perform conversions on average every 25 days, and Stripe explains that it tends to be used for recurring tasks such as payroll and month-end processing.
As of the time of writing, Stripe's documentation lists Australia, Canada, Switzerland, the EU, the UK, Singapore, and the US as the regions where Instant currency conversion is available, but Japan is not included. Stripe plans to expand the functionality of automating currency conversion from the Dashboard and the scope of API usage by the end of 2026, and also promotes its use in combination with Stripe Treasury, a money management service, and Stripe Global Payouts, a remittance service, in addition to multi-currency settlement, stating that it will expand the supported regions and currencies between 2026 and 2027.
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