Accept Stablecoins on Stripe: 2026 Guide

Stripe now offers a Checkout Crypto payment method that lets merchants accept stablecoin payments and settle the proceeds to their Stripe balance in local currency. The service charges a 1.5% fee on the USD amount; Stripe states that fee covers currency conversion, wallet and AML screening, fraud checks and on-chain gas. Each customer payment is capped at $10,000 and the flow does not include a card-style chargeback or dispute mechanism.

Merchants enable the feature in the Stripe Dashboard. Once active, Crypto appears as a payment option in Checkout, the Payment Element, Billing, Invoicing and Payment Links. Payers complete transactions by connecting a wallet and authenticating on crypto.stripe.com. Stripe manages wallet connection, AML screening and gas sponsorship inside the hosted flow, then credits a fiat-equivalent balance to the merchant’s Stripe account.

Supported tokens and networks are USDC on Tempo, Ethereum, Solana, Polygon and Base; USDP on Ethereum and Solana in the US; and USDG on Ethereum in the US. Availability is limited: the product is live for US merchants and was in private preview in select EU states, Hong Kong, Mexico and Switzerland as of September 2026.

Refunds and partial refunds return stablecoins to the original customer wallet rather than producing a card credit. Manual capture is not supported, so an auth-then-capture workflow cannot be implemented for Crypto payments. Recurring subscriptions and billing invoices can use the Crypto method. Platforms using Stripe Connect must ensure each connected account has the crypto_payments capability active to accept Crypto payments.

Checkout Crypto is a hosted, customer-wallet-to-Stripe-balance flow. It differs from a Bridge virtual account, which accepts payer local fiat rails (ACH, wire, SEPA, PIX, SPEI) and can be configured to mint or route funds into a named USDC destination under the merchant’s control. Stripe Treasury offers a separate custody option for holding USDC balances. Merchants that require named fiat deposit instructions or control over the receiving wallet should use a Bridge virtual account or a self-custody receive address instead of Checkout Crypto.

Operational planning items include accounting for the lack of a dispute path and the $10,000 single-transaction limit when setting pricing and SKU rules. Refund processes must reflect that refunds return to the original wallet. Businesses are advised to run a low-value USDC test payment on a network they already redeem-many choose Base or Solana for lower fees and faster confirmation-to confirm the PaymentIntent completes and the settled amount posts to the correct Stripe balance currency. For invoices or B2B transactions above $10,000, merchants can split invoices or route payments to wire transfers or Bridge virtual accounts. Finance teams should model the Checkout Crypto fee as 1.5% when forecasting costs, and not mix that rate with separate Link promotions unless Link checkout will actually be used.