Stake get their money from foreign transfer fee, the Premium or Black pack, and interest on the US dollar balance on your account. Foreign transfers are charged by taking 1% of the amount transferred from NZ dollars to US dollars, and vice versa. Although they reap some interest from the uninvested US dollars on your account, the amount isn't significant.
Your money is transferred from your account to Stake’s foreign transfer partner in your country. Once cleared, funds are sent to DriveWealth — Stake’s US broker-dealer — which will expose your money to the U.S. stock market.
You can’t convert Stake shares or ETF sales back to NZ dollars once they’re sold. If you want to convert them back, you need to reinvest the balance in NZ dollars.