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
World currency foreign direct investment (FDI). There are many different variations of the idea, including a possibility that it would be administered by a global central bank that would define its own monetary standard or that it would be on the gold standard. Supporters often point to the euro as an example of a supranational currency successfully implemented by a union of nations with disparate languages, cultures, and economies. A limited alternative would be a world reserve currency issued by the International Monetary Fund, as an evolution of the existing special drawing rights and used as reserve assets by all national and