Reserve currency before the beginning of the worldwide credit crunch related recession and Eurozone crisis, which harmed the euro and slowed its adoption. Since 2009, the reserve currency use of the euro has continued to drop, down to 23.9 percent in 2013. The Dutch guilder was the "de facto" reserve currency in Europe in 17th and 18th centuries. The United Kingdom's pound sterling was the primary reserve currency of much of the world in the 19th century and first half of the 20th century. The emergence of the USA as an economic superpower, and the establishment of the U.S. Federal Reserve System
Virtual currency law in the United States a percentage of these transactions. The Bitcoin exchange company Coinbase offers a payment service that allows merchants to receive Bitcoin and then automatically exchange the Bitcoin into fiat currency. The speed of this exchange helps merchants to avoid the volatility of Bitcoin. In September 2014, Ebay announced that its payment processor Braintree will be accepting Bitcoin. As of November 2014, the market capitalization of Bitcoin is just below $5 billion, but has reached historic highs close to $14 billion. The growth of Internet use and the virtual world is also increasing. World Internet use increased from 15.8% in 2005 to