Lemon

Lemon is a Buenos Aires-based crypto-fintech platform founded in 2019 by Marcelo Cavazzoli (CEO) and Borja Martel. Built for Latin American users navigating chronic currency instability, Lemon combines a digital wallet, crypto exchange, yield-bearing stablecoin accounts, and a Visa prepaid card into a single mobile application available on iOS and Android. The platform has grown to serve nearly 5 million users across Argentina and Peru, with active expansion into Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, and Uruguay.

What Lemon Does

Lemon positions itself as an all-in-one financial super-app for Latin America. Its core value proposition is giving ordinary savers a practical escape from peso-denominated inflation by making it simple to hold, earn on, and spend digital dollars and crypto assets — all without requiring any knowledge of wallets, seed phrases, or blockchain mechanics.

Users open an account entirely from their phones, deposit pesos or receive international transfers, and can immediately convert to dollar-pegged stablecoins (USDC and USDT) or any of 30-plus supported crypto assets. Once funds are in the app, Lemon generates daily yield on stablecoin balances through its integration with Morpho, a DeFi yield infrastructure protocol, passing the returns directly to user accounts without requiring users to interact with on-chain tooling.

Key Products

Lemon Card. The flagship product is the Lemon Visa prepaid card, available in virtual and physical form. It works for international purchases, QR payments in Argentina and Brazil, and standard point-of-sale transactions. The card earns cashback in Bitcoin on every purchase. Lemon also eliminated the 30% Argentine tax traditionally applied to international purchases made in pesos, meaning cardholders transacting in digital dollars avoid that surcharge.

Stablecoin savings. Holding USDC or USDT in a Lemon account earns a variable annual yield. Lemon routes these funds through Morpho's DeFi infrastructure to generate returns and passes them to users as daily credits. This positions Lemon as a savings account alternative for Argentines whose bank deposits in pesos lose purchasing power rapidly.

Crypto trading. Users can buy, sell, and hold more than 30 crypto assets including Bitcoin, Ethereum, SOL, and a range of altcoins. According to Lemon's own 2024 crypto report, Bitcoin is by far the dominant holding among its user base, followed by stablecoins. Solana accounts for approximately 1.95% of total asset holdings on the platform. The app supports fractional purchases, so users can invest from as little as one dollar.

US equities. Through a partnership with Quaestus Advisory, Lemon users can buy fractional shares in more than 10,000 US-listed companies, including well-known names in technology and energy. This makes Lemon one of the few Latin American apps combining crypto trading and traditional equity access in a single interface.

International transfers. Lemon supports money transfers to seven or more countries across the region, accepting funds from international payment platforms such as PayPal, Wise, Airbnb, and Deel. This is particularly valuable for Latin American freelancers and remote workers receiving foreign-currency income.

Scale and Financial Metrics

As of 2025, Lemon manages approximately 160 million USD in user assets and processes more than seven transactions per second on average. The platform forecast 9.3 billion USD in total processed volume for 2025, representing a 57% increase year-over-year. User growth has been consistent: active sessions in Argentina and Peru rank first or second nationally, competing directly with Binance for daily financial engagement.

Funding and Investors

Lemon has raised 66 million USD in total since founding. The most recent round was a 20 million USD Series B closed in October 2025, led by F-Prime Capital and ParaFi Capital. Additional participants included DRW Venture Capital, Endeavor Catalyst, VanEck, Persea VC, Alumni Ventures, and Lambda Class. Stani Kulechov, founder of Aave, also participated in the round. Lemon is an Endeavor network company.

Team

Marcelo Cavazzoli (CEO) is a computer engineer and serial entrepreneur who has been building software since age 12. Before Lemon, he founded multiple apps, video games, and startups. Borja Martel co-founded the company alongside Cavazzoli. The broader team is headquartered in Buenos Aires.

Solana Ecosystem Fit

Lemon is not a Solana-native application and does not use Solana as its underlying settlement or smart-contract layer. Its DeFi yield integrations route through Morpho, and its primary crypto philosophy centers on Bitcoin and dollar-pegged stablecoins. However, Solana (SOL) is a listed tradeable asset on the platform and is held by a segment of Lemon's user base. For Solana Compass purposes, Lemon represents retail distribution: a high-volume Latin American consumer app that gives millions of non-technical users exposure to SOL as part of a diversified crypto portfolio alongside their everyday financial activity.

Regulatory Status

In July 2026, Lemon received authorization from Peru's SBS (Superintendency of Banking, Insurance, and Private Pension Fund Managers) to organize its own electronic money issuer in Peru. This license reflects ongoing regulatory engagement as Lemon formalizes its operations across multiple Latin American jurisdictions.

Security and Custody

Lemon custodies user assets on behalf of its users rather than relying on self-custody. No public third-party security audits of Lemon's infrastructure have been disclosed. The platform's approach is custodial and designed for mainstream consumers who prioritize simplicity over self-sovereign ownership.