Stripe Sessions 2026: AI Agent, Global Payments, and Invisible Crypto Infrastructure

Author: Stripe

Compiled by: Jiahua, ChainCatcher

Today, we officially released 288 product updates aimed at accelerating AI business growth, helping traditional businesses adapt to AI, combating fraudsters stealing token assets, and empowering intelligent agents to become independent economic entities. Here are the core highlights:

Payments

We partnered with Meta and Google to expand the Agentic Commerce Suite; launched the Link agent wallet, allowing intelligent agents to securely complete payments on behalf of users; and introduced Checkout Studio, a one-stop solution for building, analyzing, and optimizing the checkout process.

Intelligent Agent E-commerce

• Platform businesses can now access the intelligent agent e-commerce suite: merchants can upload product catalogs and manage agent access permissions in the Stripe backend to conduct sales through AI intelligent agents.
• Partnered with Meta to support users completing checkout directly within Facebook ads.
• Through the new collaboration with Google, consumers will soon be able to purchase merchant products directly in Google AI mode and the Gemini app via the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP).

Link Payment Wallet

• The Link agent wallet can securely authorize intelligent agents to make purchases on your behalf, with payment credentials never exposed externally, and each transaction requires manual confirmation.
• U.S. businesses now support receiving Brazilian Pix instant payments and stablecoin payments via Link; Indian UPI receiving functionality is coming soon.
• A new Link-specific data dashboard has been added to the backend, visually presenting Link's actual impact on conversion rates, authorization success rates, and payment costs.

Optimized Checkout Suite

• Checkout Studio preview launched: a one-stop configuration, analysis, and optimization tool for omnichannel checkout pages.
• Stripe Checkout introduced a new embedded form.
• Adaptive Pricing feature launched, supporting localized subscription pricing by region.

Stripe Terminal

• The new Stripe Reader T600 released: equipped with an 8-inch customer display, supporting customizable terminal checkout experiences through pre-installed or custom applications, covering scenarios like membership benefits and upselling.
• The offline payment terminal has added 15 new markets, including Hong Kong and Mexico.

Managed Payments

• The managed payments feature is officially fully launched. Based on the Merchant of Record compliance solution, businesses can sell digital products in 195 countries and regions, with tax reporting, fraud prevention, transaction disputes, and after-sales support fully handled by Stripe.

Intelligent Risk Control Radar

Millions of businesses worldwide use Radar to combat fraud, covering leading AI companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, ElevenLabs, Cursor, as well as multinational groups like PepsiCo and Hertz.

This release marks the largest upgrade in Radar's history, adding protection capabilities against new threats such as token abuse and account fraud, extending protection both within and outside the Stripe platform, and significantly increasing the success rate of transaction disputes.

• Free trial of anti-abuse features: accurately identifying high-risk scraping behaviors without harming normal users.
• Stripe Signals: identifying fraud transactions across all channels, both on-site and off-site.
• Early detection of pay-as-you-go malicious defaults and multi-account bulk abuse behaviors.
• Risk control covers all payment methods: bank debit, e-wallets, buy now pay later (BNPL), and stablecoins can all intercept high-risk transactions.
• Supports training customized Radar risk control models based on the business data of the enterprise itself.
• Intelligent appeal evidence collection: AI automatically recommends supplementary evidence (logistics tracking numbers, user activity logs, etc.), improving dispute success rates.

Revenue Management

The intelligent agent economy requires a new real-time measurement, pricing, warning, and payment infrastructure. We upgraded the revenue management suite to adapt to AI-native business models, supporting streaming real-time payments; enhanced the programmability of Stripe Billing, and expanded real-time query data interfaces.

• Linked Metronome and Tempo to achieve streaming payments: value delivery equals payment collection, cost generation equals settlement.
• Preview of three new Billing customization capabilities: programmable definition of subscription bill display styles, cost-sharing rules, and balance and points deduction logic.
• Stripe Database preview launched: a managed read-only Postgres real-time database, easily activated in the backend or deployed via command line, facilitating faster development and launch.

Fund Management

The new fund management feature preview launched, supporting fund storage, consumption, and wealth management; introduced Stripe cashback debit cards, free inter-business transfers, and opened Treasury API's MCP support, making it easier for developers to build custom financial agents.

Stripe Fund Vault

• By the end of the year, U.S. and U.K. businesses will support storage of 15 currency assets.
• Free real-time transfers between Stripe businesses within the U.S.
• U.S. merchants can now apply for a Mastercard co-branded Stripe card, directly consuming settled earnings and enjoying 2% cashback on purchases.
• U.S. vault balances can accumulate Stripe points, directly offsetting payment processing fees.
• The Stripe App mobile version allows real-time viewing of account balances, transaction records, debit cards, and spending details.
• By the end of the year, support will be launched in Australia and Canada; stablecoin storage and settlement support will be expanded to 41 new markets.
• Vault balances will soon connect to Privy non-custodial wallets, covering over 150 countries for instant cross-border fund transfers.
• Dedicated financial accounts for intelligent agents: support for balance inquiries, bill payments, fund storage, card transfers, and cash flow management, with key operations requiring manual intervention for confirmation.
• Global Payouts expansion: fiat currency coverage for over 100 countries, stablecoin coverage for over 160 countries.

Embedded Finance

Stripe Connect has empowered over 16,000 platform businesses, including Shopify, DoorDash, and Substack, collectively helping 11 million merchants complete payments.

In the context of AI reshaping the software industry, we launched new growth tools that generate actionable business recommendations based on platform data and support the exploration of new revenue channels through Treasury and Stripe Capital.

Stripe Connect

• Platform Growth Studio preview launched: the backend intelligently generates business recommendations to help expand product matrices and accelerate business growth.
• Platforms can now enable Smart Disputes, automatically organizing and submitting appeal evidence for their merchants.
• Comprehensive risk control upgrade: providing each business and each transaction with a quantitative fraud score from 0-100, AI interprets the reasons for account flagging, presenting account activity in all dimensions.
• Preview of marketplace platforms issuing prepaid debit cards, supporting direct consumption of account balances by buyers and sellers.

Stripe Treasury for Platforms

• Soon to support quick account opening for platform users through minimal code embedded components for vault accounts and spending debit cards.
• Preview of multiple platform-exclusive Treasury new features.

Stripe Capital for Platforms

• Credit services for onboard merchants are now available in France and Germany; Australia and Canada will be launched soon.
• Preview of revolving credit limits, allowing merchants to borrow and repay within approved limits.

Stripe Issuing

• Intelligent agent exclusive card issuance service launched: businesses and intelligent agent platforms can programmatically issue one-time virtual debit cards, supporting agent self-purchasing and automated financial process management.
• Preview of minute-level rapid opening of personal and agent entity card projects, providing self-service onboarding, standardized templates, and real-time fund settlement.
• Consumer debit card issuance capabilities will soon be available, supporting the issuance of prepaid benefit cards, payroll cards, and branded custom debit cards.

Stablecoins and Cryptocurrencies

Stablecoins and cryptocurrencies are driving global funds to circulate faster and at lower costs.

This time, in collaboration with Privy, we launched a simplified API to manage multi-chain asset balances; expanded the Bridge open issuance capability, supporting businesses to issue and operate stablecoins independently; and introduced stablecoins linked to debit cards, allowing recipients to spend anywhere in the world.

• 32 new countries and regions now support stablecoin payments.
• Stablecoin assets can be directly held, transferred, and spent in the Stripe backend.
• Stablecoins can be transferred to 160 countries, and within the U.S., can be interchanged via Link wallet.
• Preview of U.S. businesses accessing Stripe's digital asset onboarding channel (Crypto Onramp), supporting web/mobile interface-less deployment, custom stablecoin issuance, with simplified KYC processes for transactions under $500.
• Personal/business stablecoins linked to debit cards can be issued in 30 countries and regions, supporting global consumption.
• Bridge now supports conversion and settlement of Colombian pesos (COP) and British pounds (GBP), currently supporting U.S. dollars, Brazilian reais, euros, and Mexican pesos.
• Bridge supports cross-chain transfer and storage of stablecoins like USDG, CASH, USDSui, USDCBL.
• Bridge adds multiple public chain fund transfers including Tempo, Plasma, Celo, and Sui.
• Leveraging Privy digital asset accounts to hold, transfer, and appreciate stablecoin assets globally.
• Flexible custody model: allows for self-selected custodial or self-custodial options per wallet.
• Idle asset appreciation: connecting to Morpho's selected DeFi yield vaults for passive income.
• Command line one-click wallet activation for intelligent agents, with a dedicated backend for real-time tracking of spending flows.

Stripe Platform Ecosystem

As intelligent agents become foundational components for developers to build businesses, Stripe is focusing on three major directions: enhancing platform scalability and programmability through foundational tools like custom objects; providing stable development, integration, and operational tools for intelligent agents; and introducing new agent data analysis interfaces to help businesses interpret and implement business decisions.

• Stripe Console launched: an intelligent agent execution environment embedded in the merchant backend.
• Custom Objects preview: allowing businesses to build their own data models and business logic within the Stripe system.
• Coming soon: allowing application developers to build full-page, multi-tab custom experiences within the Stripe backend.
• Stripe Projects: a one-stop configuration for managed services, databases, identity verification, observability, analytics, AI computing power, and unified billing management across the entire development chain.

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