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Glite Dictionary
💰 Money creation profit 🪙 Token creation profit
seigniorage

seigniorage

9.9
Revenue a project gains by issuing new tokens to fund a treasury
  • noun
  • /ˈseɪnjərɪdʒ/
  • Specialized
translation icon : señoraje
  • By expanding the token supply, the blockchain protocol increased its seigniorage, ensuring funds for future improvements.

Examples

  • The new cryptocurrency platform generated substantial seigniorage which helped finance its development and marketing efforts.

  • Investors were encouraged by the project's seigniorage, as it promised a sustainable revenue stream to support its growing ecosystem.

  • (Central banks have reason to welcome the idea because it increases the demand for base money and, along with it, their seigniorage earnings.)

    Academic text (1997)

  • Revenue from global taxes and global seigniorage could then provide a stable source of finance for UN expenditures, including international peacekeeping programs.

    Academic text (2001)

  • Second, even with a small seigniorage per coin for a coin that was used internationally, a larger revenue could be secured than with debased money that was used only in a restricted territory.

    Academic text (1990)

How Profitable

windfall
35 5.1
seigniorage
  • Specialized
9.9
profit
  • Specialized
∞ 2.0
loss
695 2.1

Surface Forms

seigniorage singular
seigniorages plural

Morphology

seigniorage = seignior (opaque) = seignior + age

Although the term is built from the same historical parts, the cryptocurrency sense is a later metaphorical extension and is not transparently inferable from the components.

Etymology

The cryptocurrency sense of seigniorage comes from the same root seigneur 'lord' and keeps the same idea: it is the value or revenue a protocol takes when it mints new tokens, like a modern mint taking a profit. So in crypto, seigniorage is the system's profit from issuing new coins.