Lemon Exits Brazil Amid High Regulatory Costs for Crypto Businesses

Lemon, an Argentine crypto exchange, will be shutting down its operations in Brazil by September 30. This decision comes after the company determined that meeting local licensing capital requirements would outweigh its business scale in the country.

The exchange has decided to automatically close all Brazilian accounts on October 16, extending the wind-down beyond the card service shutdown. The Lemon Card service will stop operating on September 30 as a result of this decision.

Brazil's central bank requires crypto businesses to obtain a license to operate in the country, which would require locking up a large amount of capital relative to the size of its Brazilian business, according to Lemon.