A growing software business sells in the UK, the EU, and the US. Revenue arrives in GBP, EUR, and USD respectively. Costs are predominantly in GBP — payroll, office, the bulk of suppliers — but with meaningful USD obligations to cloud infrastructure providers and a handful of EUR contracts with European partners. The CFO has built the operating model around three currencies, each held in a separate bank account, each with its own statement, its own reconciliation, and its own FX exposure.
What this looks like in practice: a Wise Business account for the multi-currency receivable, a domestic GBP business account for operating cash, and a separate USD account that exists primarily to pay the AWS bill in the currency it's denominated in to avoid being converted twice. The treasury function involves moving value between the three accounts whenever the operating cash needs topping up, paying FX margin on each conversion, and tracking the net position across the three balances at any given moment.
This is not unusual. It is the default state for any business with more than one currency in the income or cost line. The complexity scales with the number of currencies.
Why multi-currency operations break down on traditional infrastructure
The traditional banking system treats each currency as a separate account with separate operations. A USD balance is held at a USD-clearing institution. A EUR balance is held at a EUR-clearing institution. To move from one to the other, the business has to either run a bank-to-bank transfer (which crosses correspondent rails and incurs a margin) or use an FX provider (which is faster but still applies a spread).
Three structural costs follow.
The first is FX margin on every conversion. Even competitive providers charge 0.3-0.7% on standard currency pairs, and more on minor pairs. A business that converts £50,000 monthly between currencies pays £150-350 per month in FX margin alone — money that disappears into the conversion infrastructure rather than landing on the balance sheet.
The second is timing inefficiency. The business has to convert at the moment cash is needed, not at the moment the rate is favourable. A CFO who notices a strong GBP-USD rate has limited ability to act on it because the conversion is operationally tied to the payment, not separable from it.
The third is reconciliation overhead. Three accounts, three statements, three sets of incoming and outgoing flows that have to be reconciled separately and then aggregated into a single management view. The finance team spends time on the structural complexity of the setup rather than on the substance of the business.
How a single wallet handles multiple currencies
A Spondula business wallet holds multiple token denominations in the same account: GBP-S, USD-S, EUR-S, AED-S, and any other supported token. There is no separate account per currency, no separate login, no separate balance to top up or move between. Revenue arrives in whatever token the customer paid in. Outflows go in whatever token the supplier or recipient is settling in. Conversions between tokens happen on the merchant's schedule, at the merchant's chosen rate moment, at the standard 0.2% spread.
The structural change is that the currency is a property of the balance, not a property of the account. The business has one balance — denominated in whatever mix of tokens reflects current operations — and converts between the components on demand. The conversion is operationally separable from the payment because the wallet holds both sides of any potential conversion at all times.
Traditional multi-currency treasury operations require one account per currency, with FX margin paid on every conversion and reconciliation work multiplied by the number of currencies held. A multi-token wallet collapses this into a single operational surface — one balance, one set of flows, conversions on demand.
— Industry treasury practice analysis, 2024
FX timing on your terms, not on each transaction
The biggest operational difference for the finance team is the decoupling of conversion from payment. On the traditional setup, every cross-currency payment is also a forced conversion at the rate available in that moment. The business cannot wait for a better rate without delaying the payment.
On a multi-token wallet, the merchant can hold revenue in the token it arrived in for as long as they choose. A UK SaaS business receiving USD-S from American customers can hold those balances in USD-S, convert to GBP-S only when needed for domestic obligations, and time the conversion to favourable rate windows rather than to operational urgency. The CFO regains agency over FX timing — a decision that previously was made for them by the structure of the infrastructure.
What this looks like in practice
The same SaaS business operating on a Spondula multi-token wallet has one place to look for cash position. Revenue from UK customers arrives in GBP-S. Revenue from EU customers arrives in EUR-S. Revenue from US customers arrives in USD-S. All three sit in the same wallet alongside any holdings the business has chosen to maintain in other tokens. Payments to GBP suppliers go from GBP-S directly. Payments to USD suppliers go from USD-S directly. Conversions between the three happen when the CFO chooses, at the rate of that moment, at the 0.2% spread visible before the conversion confirms.
The reconciliation work shrinks because there is one wallet to reconcile, not three accounts. The FX margin disappears as a recurring line item because there are no forced conversions tied to operational payments. The treasury function can focus on cash management strategy rather than on managing the operational complexity of holding currency in three places.
Multi-currency operations should be a strategic capability, not an operational tax. A single multi-token wallet collapses the infrastructure complexity into a single surface — and lets the finance team do treasury work rather than reconciliation work.
Spondula's business gateway is open for launch partners. If your finance team operates across more than one currency — and the operational overhead of holding those currencies separately is part of the monthly close — the waitlist is where the multi-account model starts to consolidate.
Frequently asked questions
How does a multi-token wallet handle multiple currencies?
A Spondula business wallet holds GBP-S, USD-S, EUR-S, AED-S, and other supported tokens in the same account. Revenue arrives in whatever token the customer paid in. Outflows leave in whatever token the recipient is settling in. There is no separate account per currency and no forced conversion at the moment of payment.
When and how do conversions between tokens happen?
The merchant chooses when to convert. There is no forced conversion at the moment of payment — balances stay in the token they arrived in for as long as the merchant chooses to hold them. When the merchant initiates a conversion, the rate is shown before confirmation and the standard 0.2% spread applies.
How does this compare to a multi-currency account at a traditional bank?
A multi-currency bank account typically holds separate balances in each currency, charges FX margin (often 0.5-2%) on every conversion, and ties conversion timing to the moment of cross-currency payment. A Spondula wallet collapses the multiple balances into a single surface, applies a flat 0.2% on conversions, and decouples conversion timing from payment timing.
Can I receive payments in any currency the network supports?
Yes. The merchant's wallet receives payments in whatever token the customer paid in — GBP-S, USD-S, EUR-S, AED-S, or any other supported token. There is no need to designate a "settlement currency" in advance. The merchant decides which tokens to hold and which to convert, and when.
Does this work for businesses with more than three or four currencies?
Yes. The operational structure does not scale with the number of currencies the way a multi-account model does. A business holding ten tokens in a single wallet operates the same way as a business holding three. The complexity that traditional infrastructure adds for each additional currency simply does not appear.
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