Lemon has rolled out Argentina’s first Bitcoin-backed Visa credit card, offering a new way for crypto holders to tap peso credit without selling their BTC. The launch marks a notable shift in how digital assets are being woven into everyday finance in a country shaped by decades of inflation, currency controls, and repeated banking crises.
The product allows users to lock Bitcoin as collateral and receive a peso-denominated credit line, sidestepping both the need for a traditional credit history and the forced liquidation of crypto savings. For many Argentines who already treat Bitcoin as a long-term store of value, the card effectively turns dormant holdings into usable spending power.
Key Takeaways
- Lemon’s new Visa credit card lets Argentine users borrow pesos by posting Bitcoin as collateral, without selling BTC or needing a credit history.
- The product reflects Argentina’s long-standing distrust of banks and preference for hard assets following repeated devaluations and the 2001 corralito crisis.
- By keeping Bitcoin immobilized as collateral, the card turns crypto savings into everyday spending power while preserving long-term exposure to BTC.
- The launch highlights how crypto-backed credit is becoming embedded in Latin American finance, with exchanges increasingly supporting payments, remittances, and local lending.
Turning Bitcoin Savings Into Peso Credit
Under the initial setup, customers deposit 0.01 Bitcoin as collateral—worth roughly $900 to $960 at current market prices—and receive a Visa credit card with a fixed spending limit of 1 million Argentine pesos. The Bitcoin is held as a guarantee and remains immobilized, rather than being sold or converted into fiat.
As Lemon explained in its product notes, the structure is deliberately simple in this first phase, with a fixed collateral amount and pre-assigned credit limit. More flexible options are planned for later stages, including the ability for users to adjust both their posted collateral and borrowing capacity over time.
Lemon founder and CEO Marcelo Cavazzoli framed the card as an alternative route to credit in a system that has long excluded large parts of the population.
“We created a simple way to access credit in pesos using Bitcoin as collateral, without needing a credit history,” Cavazzoli said in an official statement.
The card can be used anywhere Visa is accepted, both domestically and abroad, while balances and collateral are managed directly through the Lemon app.
A Product Shaped by Argentina’s Financial History
The launch is closely tied to Argentina’s deep-rooted mistrust of banks, a legacy of repeated peso devaluations and the infamous corralito deposit freeze of December 2001. During that crisis, withdrawals were restricted and savings were effectively trapped, wiping out household wealth and permanently altering how Argentines think about money.
Even today, many savers prefer to hold U.S. dollars in cash or offshore accounts rather than in local banks. According to a Reuters report citing official data used in Argentina’s International Monetary Fund program, Argentines are estimated to hold around $271 billion in undeclared cash dollars, much of it stashed in mattresses or overseas accounts.
That shadow savings pool has proven resilient, even after President Javier Milei’s Fiscal Innocence tax amnesty encouraged nearly 300,000 people to declare more than $20 billion in previously hidden assets.
The persistence of off-system wealth highlights why products that bypass banks—but still provide liquidity—are finding an audience.
By allowing Bitcoin to be posted as collateral for peso credit, Lemon is effectively offering a bridge between preferred savings assets and daily spending, without forcing users to unwind positions they view as protection against inflation and policy risk.
Positioning Bitcoin as a Store of Value
Cavazzoli has been explicit about how Lemon views Bitcoin within this framework.
“Bitcoin is the best store of value created in the history of humanity and the fundamental piece for the new digital economy,” he said.
Within Lemon’s own user base, Bitcoin already ranks as the most widely held asset, ahead of both peso balances and dollar-pegged crypto. The new card is designed to build on that behavior rather than push users back into traditional financial rails.
In future updates, Lemon plans to allow dollar-denominated purchases to be settled directly in stablecoins such as USDT and USDC, reducing exposure to peso volatility when spending abroad or online. That feature would further blur the line between crypto wallets and conventional payment tools.
Fees, Incentives, and Early-Stage Rollout
To encourage early adoption, Lemon is waiving card maintenance fees for the first three months, with support from Rootstock. After that period, the monthly fee of 7,500 pesos—roughly $5—can be waived for users who purchase more than $150 worth of cryptocurrency per month.
Cardholders also receive commission-free purchases of Bitcoin, Ethereum, digital dollars, and more than 30 other cryptocurrencies on the platform. Additional perks include early access to new features, market newsletters, and portfolio summaries.
The exchange emphasized that this is only the first stage of the product, with more customizable options planned once the basic mechanics are tested at scale.
Part of a Broader Latin American Trend
While crypto-backed credit cards are not new globally—similar products exist in the United States, Europe, and Brazil—Lemon’s offering stands out for its explicit focus on peso-denominated revolving credit in a highly dollarized economy.
Across Latin America, crypto infrastructure has expanded rapidly in recent years. Data compiled from Dune and other analytics platforms shows that centralized exchange flows in the region grew roughly ninefold over the past three years, reaching about $27 billion in 2024. Between 2022 and 2025, cumulative regional crypto activity approached $1.5 trillion.
Exchanges such as Bitso, Mercado Bitcoin, and Lemon have become increasingly involved in remittances, hedging strategies, and everyday payments, especially in countries facing currency instability.
Against that backdrop, Lemon’s Bitcoin-backed Visa card reflects a practical shift: moving crypto beyond savings and speculation into daily financial use. For Argentine users, it offers a way to borrow in pesos, spend globally, and still hold onto Bitcoin — a combination shaped as much by history as by technology.
