Lemon Closes Brazilian Operation Amid PSAV Licensing Costs

Lemon, an Argentine crypto app, has shut down its Brazilian operation and is closing approximately 15,000 accounts. The company determined that Brazil's PSAV licensing capital requirements were disproportionate to its local revenue. This decision comes after the PSAV framework took effect on February 2, 2026, with a first-stage licensing deadline of October 30, 2026.

Lemon would have needed to commit significantly more capital to its Brazilian entity to qualify for a license under Brazil's PSAV requirements. Instead, the company chose to redirect that money to Argentina, Peru, and Colombia, where it holds existing licenses and larger user bases. In these countries, Lemon has seen growing traction, with Bitcoin purchases in Argentina recently hitting a 20-month high.

The move is not surprising given the size of Brazil's market for crypto companies like Lemon. While Binance obtained regulatory approval and relaunched its Mastercard crypto card after a two-year gap, Ripple is working through its own PSAV application, and Coinbase brought USDC lending products to Brazilian users through Morpho.