Lemon Card

What the Lemon Card is

Lemon is one of Argentina's largest crypto apps, with more than 4 million validated users and over 2 million Visa cards issued. Its card comes in two forms: an international prepaid Visa, issued free in physical or virtual format, and a credit card backed by Bitcoin - Lemon describes it as the first Visa credit card in Argentina backed by BTC.

The prepaid card

The prepaid Visa is free to request, free to ship and free to maintain. You can create a virtual card and start using it within seconds, or order the physical card and use it at any Visa merchant. Both can be added to Apple Pay and Google Wallet, and Lemon supports QR payments in Argentina and Brazil. Spending comes from your balances in pesos or digital dollars in the app.

Cashback and the tax angle

Cashback reaches 2% paid in Bitcoin on every purchase, and payments above ARS 10,000 also earn tickets for monthly prize draws covering travel and technology. The other material benefit is tax-related: international purchases in foreign currency with the Lemon Visa do not pay the 30% RG5617 perception tax, which for Argentine users is often worth more than the cashback itself.

The credit card

If you hold Bitcoin and do not want to sell it, Lemon's credit card lets you pledge BTC as backing and unlock up to ARS 1,000,000 in credit, spending during the month and settling at the end. That structure keeps exposure to Bitcoin while providing liquidity, and it carries the usual risk that the collateral's value moves while you hold a balance.

Lemon's card is aimed at Argentine and Brazilian users and skips the 30% foreign-currency tax on international purchases, which matters more locally than the headline cashback. The Ripio Card is the closest regional rival with its own 2% crypto cashback, and the ARQ Card runs on dollar accounts instead. Our crypto cards listing covers Latin America.

Prepaid Visa

• Free virtual and physical Visa cards with no shipping or maintenance cost.
• International use at any Visa merchant, with Apple Wallet and Google Wallet support.
• QR payments in Argentina and Brazil.
• Configurable daily purchase limits and the ability to pause the card at any time.

Credit card

• Visa credit card backed by Bitcoin, with up to ARS 1,000,000 in credit.
• Spend during the month and settle the balance at the end.
• Designed for holders who do not want to sell their BTC.

Cashback and rewards

• Up to 2% cashback paid in Bitcoin on purchases.
• Prize tickets for every payment above ARS 10,000, drawn monthly for travel and technology prizes.

Accounts and transfers

• Peso and digital dollar balances with daily returns.
• Receive money from abroad via PayPal, Wise, Airbnb, Payoneer and Deel.
• Invest in Bitcoin and more than 4,000 stocks from the same app.

Supported assets

Lemon supports Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT and USDC alongside peso and digital dollar balances, and the card spends from those balances. Cashback is always paid in Bitcoin regardless of which asset funded the purchase, which makes the card a steady small accumulator of BTC.

Bitcoin-backed credit

The credit card is the more crypto-native product: you pledge Bitcoin as backing instead of selling it, and receive up to ARS 1,000,000 in spending power. This lets you keep your BTC position intact while covering monthly expenses, but it introduces collateral risk - if the value of the pledged Bitcoin falls, the terms of the credit arrangement determine whether you must add collateral or repay early.

Digital dollars

Between the two extremes, Lemon's digital dollar balance sits alongside the card and earns a daily return, making it the natural funding source for spending that you want to keep dollar-denominated without holding volatile crypto.

Published terms

• Card request: free, with no shipping cost
• Maintenance fee: none
• Cashback: up to 2% in Bitcoin
• International purchases in foreign currency: no 30% RG5617 perception tax
• Cash withdrawals: available at participating merchants

What is not published

Lemon does not publish the conversion spread applied on peso or digital dollar balances, the fees for cash withdrawals at partner merchants, or the terms of the credit card's Bitcoin collateral - including the loan-to-value ratio and what happens if BTC falls sharply. Those are the numbers that determine the real cost of using either card, and they are worth confirming in the app before relying on it.

Credit card cost

The credit line of up to ARS 1,000,000 is backed by Bitcoin you pledge rather than sold. Interest, settlement timing and the treatment of the collateral are not listed on the card page, so read the terms carefully before pledging holdings - a fall in the Bitcoin price while a balance is outstanding is the main risk to understand.