Blockchain technology has been used to pilot Brazil's digital real. Execution took place on the Stellar infrastructure of the local Mercado Bitcoin exchange. The experiment included a KYC procedure, a fraud protection check using decentralized identity identification, and direct fund transfers. All worked well, no violations of the country's laws were detected (thankfully, the tests had not yet been banned), though Mercado's head teased that the Central Bank's real motive was to see how things would unfold if it lost its direct control over money.

Since early July, the German government has liquidated half of its Bitcoin holdings, amounting to about $1.5 billion. This massive sell-off introduced significant downward pressure on the cryptocurrency market.