
135 new currencies at Stripe - Tarang
https://stripe.com/blog/new-currencies
======
crazygringo
Holy shamoly! This is incredible! I'm actually checking to make sure it's not
Apr 1. I'm beyond-amazed at the sheer breadth of this list. I mean, PayPal
itself only supports 20-odd currencies, I think.

I mean, the Brazilian Real? Literally almost _no_ payment processors support
that. And believe me, I've looked for them.

This is amazing news.

(As a side question, if anybody from Stripe is listening here: how exactly is
this done -- via partnerships with local banks, or via dynamic currency
conversion? I ask because, in the case of DCC, you will find that there are
big problems involved with Brazil specifically, and many legitimate
transactions will be refused. Brazil is a very special case, and calling the
BRL a supported currency could mean very many different things.)

~~~
igorgue
Well PayFlow says it supports 190 markets (does that mean currencies?)

[https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/payflow-
faq](https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/payflow-faq)

~~~
pc
They list the currencies at the end of that page; there are only 22 there.

~~~
Strom
PayPal lets you keep the money in the currency you charged. Doesn't seem like
Stripe allows this, and insists on the 2% conversion fee.

------
Smirnoff
To Stripe employees:

So let me get this straight - a US based company can accept UZS (Uzbek Sum)
payments from clients in Uzbekistan and Stripe will convert the UZS funds into
USD?

I DO NOT BELIEVE THIS!!!

What are the strings attached? Any limitations?

I mean Uzbekistan has one of the most messed up economies in the world. Only
here a used car costs more than a new car (I am not kidding) and Uzbekistan
practically has non-existent conversion. People usually use black market to
convert UZS to USD.

Thus, I cannot believe you pulled it off. And if you did do it, who do I talk
to at Stripe to find out the details and rates?

~~~
GFischer
While Uzbekistan is a contender for "most messed up economies in the world",
Venezuela, Argentina and Zimbawe, for example will disagree with you :)

In Argentina used cars cost more than new ones as well, because new ones are
often "vaporware" and take months to actually deliver. Both Venezuela and
Argentina use the black market too (Venezuela being far worse than Argentina)

I see the same happens in Uzbekistan :) :

[http://www.eurasianet.org/node/67469](http://www.eurasianet.org/node/67469)

Edit: see rafaelm's comment about Venezuela

[https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=rafaelm](https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=rafaelm)

I live in Uruguay but we have to deal with Argentina's problems (next-door
neighbour and 3rd biggest trade partner), and Venezuela is an important trade
partner, so we're very aware of their problems.

------
jzwinck
I noticed the example uses "cny" in lower case. ISO currency codes are always
uppercase. I imagine the API is case insensitive then. Which may pose a
problem for the poor fellow who considers GBP the pound but GBp the pence.
That is an established convention on some systems (e.g. Bloomberg, I think).

~~~
pc
Interesting point. You're right; the currency param is case-insensitive. (And
with regard to GBP vs GBp, our amounts are always denominated in the smallest
unit of the currency.)

~~~
jzwinck
Wait, so if I tell you 100 GBp, is that closer to 100 dollars or 1 dollar? Is
"gbp" pence or pounds for you? The "smallest unit" of some currencies may be
ambiguous (e.g. 1 BTC vs. 1 Satoshi).

~~~
pc
100 GBP in the API =~ $1. (The motivation behind always using the smallest
denomination is to dissuade people from performing floating point math.) The
smallest unit is pretty clear in most "normal" currencies, but you're right
that Bitcoin kinda throws things off...

~~~
jzwinck
How do users or front-end developers know how to display 1 "usd" as 0.01 USD
but 1 "inr" as 1 INR? I haven't seen an API for getting the display factors.

~~~
pc
Our users are generally picking prices themselves (rather than having to
render arbitrary currency/amount pairs), and so they tend to be aware of these
subtleties, but we perhaps should start recommending good currency display
libraries. (Or even including something in the official Stripe libraries.)

------
sanswork
This is excellent timing I was literally just this past week looking into
switching to a different processor to get access to the local currencies in a
few potential markets.

Very excited.

------
ronaldx
Today I learned that "Gibraltar Pound", "Falkland Pound" and "Saint Helenian
Pound" each count as separate currencies.

~~~
dublinclontarf
Although they are convertible one for one with the Pound Sterling. It's the
same with the Isle of Mans currency the Manx pound.

This is because these are British dependencies or have a special relationship
with the UK but at the same time are independent.

~~~
eCa
Note though that those pounds (I have a 5 Jersey Pound bill somewhere) are not
legal tender in the UK [1].

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_pound](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_pound)

~~~
alexchamberlain
Good luck defining legal tender in the UK; a lot of English retailers won't
take Scottish notes.

~~~
ronaldx
Legal tender has a very specific definition that many people are not clear
about; Scottish notes are _not_ legal tender, _not even in Scotland_ [0].
Although, they are convertible with English notes.

(IANAL, this is my lay understanding and is provided for entertainment only
and should not be taken as legal advice, etc:)

Legal tender means you cannot claim a debt remains unpaid if you were offered
repayment in the form of legal tender. So if I owe you £1000, you could in
principle refuse to accept Scottish notes if you chose to and maintain that
the debt stands (although that would be pretty crap of you, and you must
accept the English notes after I've changed them at the bank).

Retailers are allowed to accept pebbles in exchange for goods if they want,
and would normally accept Scottish notes on this same basis (they want your
business). I believe they could even refuse to accept legal tender: a retail
transaction is considered to be making a contract rather than repaying a debt
and therefore has little to do with legal tender (see also: 'invitation to
treat').

I also suggest that retailers in London accept Scottish notes almost without
exception.

[0][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_tender#United_Kingdom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_tender#United_Kingdom)

------
dylandrop
Where are the currency codes? I couldn't find a list on
[https://support.stripe.com/questions/in-which-currencies-
can...](https://support.stripe.com/questions/in-which-currencies-can-i-charge-
my-customers)

In either case, this is really awesome. What sets this apart from Stripe's
competitors, is that those companies (or at least Braintree) require you to
set up a different account for each currency, which is a huge pain in the ass.
Or at least this was the case last time I checked.

~~~
pc
We use the standard ISO 4217 codes
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_4217](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_4217)).
But we should probably include them explicitly on that list. Willfix.

~~~
RMacy
Do you support marketplace models (internationally)?

~~~
krithix
Hey, yep! Stripe Connect works in all our live and beta countries:
[https://stripe.com/connect](https://stripe.com/connect).

Our direct payouts product ([https://stripe.com/blog/send-payouts-with-
stripe](https://stripe.com/blog/send-payouts-with-stripe)) is currently US-
only, but we're working on expanding it.

~~~
kerryfalk
ETA on payouts in Canada?

~~~
cristinacordova
(I work at Stripe). No ETA yet, but we're actively working on it.

------
mootothemax
Are Stripe going to expand any further into Europe in the near future?

I've integrated with Stripe several times now for US-based clients and am
getting severely jealous!

~~~
pc
What countries would you like to see supported? (You can sign up in a number
of European countries today:
[https://stripe.com/global.](https://stripe.com/global.))

~~~
mootothemax
For myself, Poland. I've also had clients in Italy and the Czech Republic make
similar noises (although, I must confess, I know comparatively little about
their local alternatives).

~~~
polskibus
+1 for Poland (and the rest of Central Europe! Remove the obstacles - you'll
be first from the West there instead of competing with others elsewhere in
Europe(PayPal, etc.)

~~~
vsl
Not really: PayPal is there and so is SaaSy/FastSpring. (I'm currently using
FastSpring from Czech Republic and would love to have the Stripe option.)

~~~
polskibus
PayPal didnt really get much traction in PL. Never heard about FastSpring.
There's a local alternative PayU, which is the most used option for payment
integration.

------
caseyf
Combined with Stripe Connect, this is great for marketplaces.

I did a test charge and was pleasantly surprised to find that Stripe's "market
rate" is really the mid market rate and not something else. PayPal's spread is
something like 2.5% and then there is sometimes (always?) a 1% cross-border
transaction fee, so Stripe's flat 2% fee is looking pretty good.

------
stephen_mcd
A slap in the face to Australian users who've been waiting patiently for half
a year to use USD and still can't.

~~~
pc
(I work at Stripe.) This limitation is a large part of why we've kept Stripe
in beta in Australia. We figured it's worth allowing the people who find the
current product useful to do so now, but we fully agree that not being able to
charge in USD is a major limitation. We're working on it as fast as we can.
Unfortunately, it's not entirely in our control.

~~~
stephen_mcd
I don't understand how this is the case when younger competitors like
Braintree and Pin are able to offer it.

~~~
collision
Both have been up and running in Australia longer than us, actually. And we
want to launch multicurrency support in Australia properly: as a default part
of every Stripe account with no paperwork. We could probably get a half-baked
version out the door faster, but I don't think that's fair to our Australian
users either.

~~~
noir_lord
It's seeing answers like this that make me choose products.

Nicely done.

------
kjackson2012
Can the merchants keep the currency that they get paid in and elect to convert
it at their choosing, or does it get immediately converted to whatever their
home currency is?

~~~
cristinacordova
Stripe will immediately convert the currency to the user's local currency.

------
dipth
Still waiting for Stripe support in Denmark. I'm getting seriously tired of
having to deal with the old and rusty payment provider landscape here.

~~~
annnnd
The currency seems supported - "Danish Krone" is listed. Is there something
else that is missing? (genuinly curious)

~~~
spand
As he said: Support _in_ Denmark. Stripe "only" supports these countries:
[https://stripe.com/global](https://stripe.com/global)

------
theklub
No crypto currencies yet...

~~~
saalweachter
To a certain extent, doesn't this weaken the case for Bitcoin?

One of Bitcoin's big selling points is "seamless international commerce". If a
company (ie, Stripe) makes it painless to let customers pay in whatever
currency they have, doesn't that advantage for Bitcoin go away?

~~~
oleganza
Bitcoin has different selling points, one of them is independence of Stripe,
PayPal and other intermediaries that are either too costly for some, or
disallow certain transactions, or cause chargebacks, or not allowed in your
country.

Another selling point is that BTC you can own while USD/EUR/RUR/CNY you
cannot. Fiat currencies are always under control of the banking system and
ultimately at the mercy of the central banks. "Bail outs", "bail ins", "QE",
"haircuts", "freezing accounts" etc. are all effects of not being able to hold
your own money. You can hold physical gold, but it's not portable or easily
divisible. Bitcoin allows holding any amount of wealth, be it $1 or $1000000
even inside your brain. It's much easier to meddle with your savings in
USD/EUR than in Bitcoin.

~~~
cabalamat
> You can hold physical gold, but it's not portable

Depends how rich you are. UK median annual income works out about 1 kg of
gold, which is perfectly portable.

(Of course, the authorities might regard you with suspicion for carrying that
much gold, but that's another issue.)

~~~
dllthomas
If everyone tried to convert their savings into gold, gold would be quite a
bit more expensive (and thus lighter).

------
Silhouette
I guess that definitively answers my previous question[1] about whether we can
charge in US dollars or Euros as a UK business, then. :-)

Quick but obvious follow-ups:

1\. How do we look up the currency conversion rates that were applied for each
charge? There are various hints on the Stripe page about these new
currencies[2] but looking at the corresponding API documentation either I'm
missing something or it hasn't been updated yet.

2\. Are there any plans to support payment _methods_ beyond the existing card
schemes, at least in countries where those cards might not be the preferred
form of payment? (For example, there are various European national card
schemes like Carte Bleue in France, and in China there is the UnionPay
system.)

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7181446](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7181446)

[2] [https://stripe.com/blog/new-currencies](https://stripe.com/blog/new-
currencies)

~~~
thairu
1\. The currency conversion rates can be checked by retrieving the charge's
balance transaction via
[https://stripe.com/docs/api#retrieve_balance_transaction](https://stripe.com/docs/api#retrieve_balance_transaction)

2\. We are working on supporting different payment methods, but have no
immediate ETA on when these will be available.

~~~
Silhouette
_The currency conversion rates can be checked by retrieving the charge 's
balance transaction_

Sorry, I'm definitely missing something then. Where in the response to that
request does it show the conversion rate? I only see the amount, currency and
fee information, which doesn't seem to be any different to what looking up the
original charge already told me.

~~~
thairu
Please let me know if this helps:
[https://gist.github.com/thairu/1bb35222aefd6e27aa07](https://gist.github.com/thairu/1bb35222aefd6e27aa07)

~~~
Silhouette
Thanks for sharing that, it does make everything clear.

If it helps, I didn't see anything in the API documentation to suggest that
the currency in the balance transaction (which is type of a Stripe record we
don't understand and have never had to consider before) would be different to
that of the charge. Checking the API Reference page as I write this, it
currently refers to "pence" in the left-hand column when describing the amount
and fees, even though the example in the right-hand column says "usd", and it
gives no description at all for the currency field.

A quick clarification in those API docs, including an explicit mention that
balance transactions are operating in terms of your pay-out currency where
charges are in terms of your pay-in currency, might help a lot here. I imagine
this, along with how to navigate from a charge to the corresponding balance
transaction, will be FAQs for anyone implementing multiple currencies...

------
jcolton
Incredible! What I value most is the simplicity. Stripe has delivered a
massive feature with almost no friction. Bravo.

------
bowlofpetunias
Is Stripe ever going to support other payment methods?

Stripe has been in beta in the Netherlands for a while now, but with credit
card only, choosing between Stripe and old school payment providers (which
aren't half as bad as what is apparently is the case in the US) that support
all of the most used payment methods, Stripe is really not an option.

Not unless I want to tell 80% of all clients to take their money elsewhere.

------
MichaelTieso
Nice! Just starting to build my first app with Stripe so this couldn't have
come at a better time.

------
Tarang
I was just wondering, to the customer user would this cost more if the foreign
currency was used or their local one given the exchange rate is sometimes very
good (e.g paying in US dollars instead of the local currency)

~~~
pmtarantino
Sometimes is the opposite. In Argentina, for example, it is better to pay in
Pesos, because if I pay in dollars, I have to pay 1) the local bank conversion
rate, and 2) the conversino rate at the end of the month, which may be higher.

~~~
aurelianito
plus retentions that might eventually be used to pay other taxes (or not)

------
OoTheNigerian
Wow!

Awesome. I see Naira. Phew! :)

So if I make my charge in Naira, how do you pay me in Naira considering
Nigerian banks are yet to be supported. Of course same question apples to
other non supported countries whose currencies are supported.

~~~
cristinacordova
The multi-currency capabilities (including the ability to charge in Naira) are
only available to businesses based in Europe and the UK with banks in Europe
and the UK. We do plan to bring Stripe to more countries, including Nigeria.

~~~
cristinacordova
_edit_ I wasn't able to edit the above comment, but I was referring to the
_US_ and Europe above, not the UK and Europe.

------
joewee
This is awesome. Its amazing it took so long for someone to actually make this
a reality. Thanks for helping make the world flat stripe!

------
ereckers
Now if somebody could solve the recurring billing in foreign currencies issue
(Indian Rupee in my case), we'd be in business.

~~~
joewee
What is the recurring billing problem?

~~~
ereckers
Sorry, just getting back around to this. I think my comment was way too
general.

I had a project recently that I was researching that wanted
subscription/recurring payments done in Indian Rupees. Found that because of
banking regulations and I believe other issues, this was not doable.

Basically, from what I found there wouldn't be a way to run a subscriptions
based website out of the US targeting India and Indian Rupee as the currency.

------
buddha25
Thats amazing news! Live stripe, so well done

------
g8oz
Wow! The complacent incumbents in Canada are about to get a can of whoop ass
opened on them.

------
nhangen
Great feature, but now I have to write a new currency handler for all of our
products.

------
billderose
It's too bad the conversion between currencies adds an additional 2% fee.

------
viana007
Brazilian Real \o

