Recently, a well-known South American crypto exchange Lemon has introduced a new feature for its credit card products — a Bitcoin-backed Visa card. The concept is quite interesting: users lock up Bitcoin as collateral, and the exchange directly issues a local fiat credit limit, without needing to sell their coins.

The threshold also seems quite accessible. Locking in 0.01 Bitcoin (approximately $960) can initially grant a credit limit of 1 million pesos. This way, holders can retain ownership and potential appreciation of their assets while also meeting liquidity needs, effectively solving the pain point of "coins sleeping in the account but urgently needing cash."

What's even more intriguing is the official future plan. They intend to gradually optimize this system, allowing users to flexibly adjust staking ratios and borrowing limits. The ultimate goal is to support direct settlement with stablecoins like USDC or USDT pegged to the US dollar, enabling transactions to bypass exchange rate volatility and be priced in USD value. This step essentially bridges crypto assets with traditional finance.