Core Announcement: Stripe Made Its China Debut, SMP Fully Live
On September 23, 2026, Stripe’s flagship global event, Stripe Tour, landed in Shanghai for the first time ever in China, gathering over 700 business leaders, founders, and developers from software, platform, and AI sectors. At the event, Stripe Managed Payments (SMP) officially went fully live, alongside several new product features designed to help enterprises scale globally.
Key hard facts:
- Launch date: September 23, 2026
- New products/features: SMP fully live, Checkout Studio, Adaptive Pricing, Agent Commerce, Machine Payments Protocol, Stripe Terminal (public beta in Hong Kong), enhanced Radar, Smart Disputes
- Availability: SMP supports 195 markets; multi-currency settlements cover 18 currencies; Stripe Terminal available in Hong Kong (beta)
- Access: Only qualified enterprises can use certain features
Global Infrastructure: From “Going Global” to “Born Global”
Stripe observes that new-generation Chinese enterprises are transitioning from “going global” to “born global"—embedding internationalization into product design, monetization, and operations from day one. AI significantly reduces content creation and product development costs, making global reach a foundational consideration rather than a later-stage expansion.
Key data confirms this shift: between 2024 and 2025, Stripe’s Greater China region saw a 48% year-over-year growth in cross-border payment volume, while newly onboarded AI companies grew by 78%. MiniMax, for instance, onboarded via Stripe in just two weeks with only two engineers, quickly commercializing in 100+ markets. Shopjard Technology embedded global payment capabilities into its platform, serving 500,000 merchants across 180+ markets.
Liu Sicheng, Stripe’s Head of Enterprise Sales for Greater China, notes these firms need payment, pricing, fraud prevention, and finance operations that span markets—with no need to rebuild infrastructure country by country.
Product Suite: Built for AI-Native and Global Operations
New features fall into three categories:
1. Payment and Checkout Experience
- Checkout Studio: Build adaptive checkout experiences for chat interfaces and AI agent interactions
- SMP: Enable digital service sellers to sell globally; Stripe handles local payments, taxes, fraud, disputes, and customer service
- Adaptive Pricing: Accept payments in local currency with local routing to optimize success rates
2. Agent Commerce Infrastructure
- Agent Commerce: Sell via AI interfaces while retaining merchant identity
- Machine Payments Protocol: Open protocol enabling charges to agents for content, APIs, and services
- Stripe Billing: Supports token consumption billing; Metronome’s new feature enables real-time usage tracking, flexible pricing, and cost management
3. Cross-Border Fund Management and Risk Control
- Multi-currency settlement and instant FX: Settle in 18 currencies, convert balances directly on Stripe, and withdraw to local-currency bank accounts
- Stripe Terminal: Public beta launching in Hong Kong
- Enhanced Radar: New risk controls for multi-account abuse, trial abuse, token theft; covers all Stripe payment methods; API-based risk scoring for non-Stripe transactions
- Smart Disputes: Streamline dispute evidence preparation
| Feature Module | Core Capability | Supported Regions |
|---|---|---|
| SMP | Global selling with localized payment, tax, fraud handling | 195 markets |
| Multi-currency Settlement | 18-currency settlement with instant FX | Hong Kong, Singapore, US, UK, etc. |
| Enhanced Radar | Multi-account, token theft risk prevention | All Stripe payment methods |
| Terminal | Unified online/offline payments | Hong Kong (beta) |
##落地建议：Who Should Act Now?
Ready to try now:
- SaaS or digital service providers already validated domestically, needing rapid cross-border payment enablement
- AI applications using token-based billing, seeking flexible pricing and usage-based cost control
Consider waiting:
- Enterprises still in single-market validation phase, unprepared for multi-currency financial operations
- Businesses needing offline payments but operating primarily outside Hong Kong (Stripe Terminal beta limited to Hong Kong)
Final Thoughts
Sarita Singh, Stripe’s Managing Director for Greater China, Southeast Asia, and Korea, emphasizes that AI is accelerating a structural jump in payment volumes, with Chinese AI companies growing faster than the global average. As digitalization reshapes the global economy, programmable financial infrastructure has become mission-critical for global scalability.