If you process Bulgarian Lev (BGN) transactions, don’t miss this:
The European Central Bank and the Bulgarian National Bank adopted the euro as Bulgaria’s official currency at midnight 00:00 (EET) on 1 January 2026.
From that moment, BGN is no longer a valid processing currency.
What many merchants underestimate is this:
Most acquirers and acquirer processors have already implemented hard blocks to decline transactions still sent in BGN after cutover.
If payment systems haven’t fully transitioned to EUR, this could potentially result in authorisation declines and progressive revenue loss.
You’re probably asking what merchants should be doing now?
Merchants should urgently:
1. Confirm with your acquirer the response code you will see when BGN transactions are declined post-cutover, and align on your BGN → EUR currency conversion strategy. This allows you to quantify declined volumes, understand revenue exposure, and quickly identify any remaining use cases not yet covered.
2. Review live transaction data to identify any payments still being processed in BGN.
3. Validate all payment flows end-to-end: authorisations, captures, refunds, pre-authorisation completions, disputes, and 3DS requests, to ensure they are fully EUR-compliant.
This is especially critical for subscription, travel, digital, and platform merchants, where delayed or asynchronous flows are common.
If you process payments in Bulgaria, don’t leave this to the last mile.
Are you confident your stack is fully EUR-ready, or are you still validating?
PS: At Checkout.com, we understand the impact mandatory currency changes can have on merchant revenue and operations. Our role as an acquirer is to help merchants navigate these changes safely, by clarifying requirements, identifying risk areas, and supporting readiness ahead of enforcement
