Currency Exchange & Crypto Rates MCP Server

Currency Exchange & Crypto Rates MCP Server

A currency exchange MCP server for real-time forex rates and cryptocurrency prices via the Model Context Protocol. Convert between 60+ fiat currencies and 30+ cryptocurrencies — with multi-source failover, smart currency resolution, batch conversion, and historical rate lookups. No API keys needed for upstream data sources.

Tools

convert_currency

Convert an amount between any supported fiat or cryptocurrency pair.

Input:

{ "amount": 100, "from": "USD", "to": "INR" }

Output:

{
  "amount": 100,
  "from": "USD",
  "to": "INR",
  "result": 8312,
  "rate": 83.12,
  "inverseRate": 0.012031,
  "timestamp": "2026-02-14T12:00:00.000Z",
  "source": "exchangerate-api",
  "cached": false
}

Natural language works too:

{ "amount": 1, "from": "bitcoin", "to": "rupees" }

batch_convert

Convert an amount from one currency to multiple targets in a single call. More cost-effective than multiple individual conversions.

Input:

{ "amount": 1000, "from": "USD", "to": ["EUR", "GBP", "INR", "JPY", "BTC"] }

Output:

{
  "amount": 1000,
  "from": "USD",
  "conversions": [
    { "to": "EUR", "result": 920, "rate": 0.92, "inverseRate": 1.086957, "source": "exchangerate-api", "cached": false },
    { "to": "GBP", "result": 790, "rate": 0.79, "inverseRate": 1.265823, "source": "exchangerate-api", "cached": false },
    { "to": "INR", "result": 83120, "rate": 83.12, "inverseRate": 0.012031, "source": "exchangerate-api", "cached": false },
    { "to": "JPY", "result": 149500, "rate": 149.5, "inverseRate": 0.006689, "source": "exchangerate-api", "cached": false },
    { "to": "BTC", "result": 0.02, "rate": 0.00002, "inverseRate": 50000, "source": "coinbase", "cached": false }
  ],
  "timestamp": "2026-02-14T12:00:00.000Z"
}

Supports up to 50 targets per call. Duplicate and same-as-source currencies are automatically filtered.

get_exchange_rates

Get current exchange rates for a base currency against multiple targets.

Input:

{ "base": "USD" }

Returns rates for the top 20 currencies (USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, INR, AED, CAD, AUD, CHF, CNY, SGD, HKD, KRW, BRL, MXN, ZAR, TRY, THB, SAR, BTC) by default, or specify targets:

{ "base": "BTC", "targets": ["USD", "EUR", "INR", "GBP"] }

Output:

{
  "base": "BTC",
  "rates": {
    "USD": 51234.56,
    "EUR": 47345.12,
    "INR": 4258567.12,
    "GBP": 40567.89
  },
  "timestamp": "2026-02-14T12:00:00.000Z",
  "source": "coinbase",
  "cached": false
}

get_historical_rate

Get historical exchange rates for a single date or a date range (max 365 days).

Single date:

{ "base": "USD", "target": "INR", "date": "2025-01-15" }

Output:

{
  "base": "USD",
  "target": "INR",
  "date": "2025-01-15",
  "rate": 86.45,
  "source": "frankfurter",
  "cached": false
}

Date range:

{ "base": "USD", "target": "EUR", "startDate": "2025-01-01", "endDate": "2025-01-31" }

Output:

{
  "base": "USD",
  "target": "EUR",
  "period": { "startDate": "2025-01-01", "endDate": "2025-01-31" },
  "rates": [
    { "date": "2025-01-02", "rate": 0.9234 },
    { "date": "2025-01-03", "rate": 0.9241 }
  ],
  "change": {
    "high": 0.9312,
    "low": 0.9189,
    "average": 0.9248,
    "changePct": 0.94
  },
  "source": "frankfurter",
  "cached": false
}

Supported Currencies

Fiat (60+ currencies)

Crypto (30 coins)

Smart Currency Resolution

Accepts ISO 4217 codes, crypto symbols, and natural language:

Data Sources

All upstream APIs are zero-auth (no API keys required).

Features

• Multi-source fallback — automatic failover between providers
• Fiat-to-fiat, crypto-to-fiat, fiat-to-crypto, and crypto-to-crypto conversions
• Crypto-to-crypto via USD cross-rate (e.g., BTC to ETH)
• Batch conversion — convert to up to 50 currencies in a single call
• Smart currency resolution — natural language, ISO codes, and crypto symbols
• Historical rates with time-series and change statistics (high, low, average, % change)
• LRU cache with tiered TTLs — 30 min fiat, 2 min crypto, 24 hours historical
• Per-domain rate limiting (1.5s between requests to same upstream API)
• Zod schema validation on all tool inputs
• Date validation — rejects future dates, invalid formats, ranges over 365 days

Pricing

Limitations

• Historical crypto rates: Not supported — Frankfurter and fawazahmed0 only cover fiat
• Frankfurter coverage: ~33 ECB currencies only — Gulf currencies (AED, SAR, KWD, QAR) use fawazahmed0 fallback for historical
• Fiat rate freshness: ExchangeRate-API updates daily, not real-time
• Crypto rate freshness: Cached for 2 minutes to respect upstream API limits
• Time-series: Only available for Frankfurter-supported (ECB) currencies
• Upstream rate limits: CoinGecko keyless has ~10 req/min; Coinbase ~10 req/sec
• 1MB response size cap per request
• Rate limited to 1 request per 1.5 seconds per upstream domain

Usage

MCP Endpoint: POST /mcp

# Convert 100 USD to INR
curl -X POST https://your-actor.apify.actor/mcp \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_APIFY_API_TOKEN" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"convert_currency","arguments":{"amount":100,"from":"USD","to":"INR"}},"id":1}'

# Get BTC exchange rates
curl -X POST https://your-actor.apify.actor/mcp \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_APIFY_API_TOKEN" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"get_exchange_rates","arguments":{"base":"BTC","targets":["USD","EUR","INR"]}},"id":2}'

# Historical rate for a specific date
curl -X POST https://your-actor.apify.actor/mcp \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_APIFY_API_TOKEN" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"get_historical_rate","arguments":{"base":"USD","target":"INR","date":"2025-01-15"}},"id":3}'

Running Locally

npm install
npm run start:dev

Server starts at http://localhost:3000/mcp.

Connect to Your AI Client

Add this to your MCP client config (Claude Desktop, Cline, Cursor, etc.):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "currency-exchange": {
      "url": "https://vector384--currency-exchange-mcp.apify.actor/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_APIFY_API_TOKEN"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace YOUR_APIFY_API_TOKEN with your Apify API token.

Deployment

apify login
apify push

Configure standby mode on the Apify platform after pushing.

FAQ

Do I need API keys for the upstream exchange rate providers?No. All 5 data sources (ExchangeRate-API, fawazahmed0, Frankfurter, Coinbase, CoinGecko) are public and free. You only need an Apify API token for your deployed Actor.

How does multi-source failover work?Each request tries the primary provider first. If it fails or times out, the server automatically retries with the fallback provider. Fiat: ExchangeRate-API → fawazahmed0. Crypto: Coinbase → CoinGecko. Historical: Frankfurter → fawazahmed0.

Can I convert between two cryptocurrencies (e.g., BTC to ETH)?Yes. Crypto-to-crypto conversions use a USD cross-rate automatically.

What's the rate freshness?Fiat rates update daily. Crypto rates are cached for 2 minutes. Historical rates are cached for 24 hours.

Are historical crypto rates supported?No. The historical data sources (Frankfurter/ECB and fawazahmed0) only cover fiat currencies.

How do I run it locally?npm install && npm run start:dev — the MCP endpoint will be available at http://localhost:3000/mcp.