TL;DR
- Lemon launched a Bitcoin-backed Visa card in Argentina, letting users lock 0.01 BTC and access an initial 1,000,000-peso credit line.
- The product roadmap includes adjustable collateral and limits, plus settling dollar purchases in USDT or USDC without liquidating bitcoin collateral.
- Incentives include commission-free crypto buys and fee waivers, as the launch targets a cash-hoarding market shaped by the 2001 corralito and ongoing inflation.
Lemon has rolled out what it describes as Argentina’s first Bitcoin-backed Visa credit card, positioning it as a way to unlock peso credit without liquidating BTC savings. The company, which says it serves more than 5.5 million users, frames the product as a simple, fixed-amount first stage right now. Users deposit 0.01 BTC, cited around $900 to $960, and receive an initial limit of 1,000,000 pesos, with bitcoin held as an immobilized guarantee. The pitch is straightforward: keep your BTC, still access credit, and stay in one workflow.
How Lemon’s Card Works
Mechanically, the collateral is not sold or converted, and the credit line is denominated in pesos, a design aimed at a cash-sensitive market. Lemon frames the card as a Bitcoin-guaranteed, peso-denominated revolving credit product in a dollarized banking environment. The next phase, it says, will let users adjust their collateral backup and credit limit. It is also developing a way for dollar-denominated purchases to be settled in digital dollars such as USDT and USDC. The strategy reads like a staged rollout: start predictable, then add flexibility once trust is earned.
To drive adoption, Lemon highlights added utility around the card. It says users will get commission-free purchases of digital dollars, Bitcoin, Ether and more than 30 other cryptocurrencies currently, plus exclusive benefits like early access to features, a market newsletter and portfolio summaries. Maintenance is waived for the first three months by Rootstock; afterward, the fee is 7,500 pesos per month, about $5, but waived for users who buy more than $150 in crypto monthly for eligibility. The business case blends perks and fee waivers to keep spending, trading, and retention aligned.
The context is Argentina’s distrust of banks after the 2001 “corralito” freeze and devaluations that fueled cash hoarding. A Reuters estimate cited in coverage puts undeclared dollars at about $271 billion, even after a tax amnesty drew close to 300,000 savers who declared more than $20 billion. The same coverage cites Latin America exchange flows near $27 billion in 2024 and $1.5 trillion of activity from 2022 to 2025, while inflation still remains in the low-30% range. In that operating environment, crypto-collateralized credit is less novelty than a pragmatic bridge.
