Seigniorage
The profit an issuer earns from creating money — in crypto, the yield stablecoin issuers make on their reserves.
Seigniorage is the profit from issuing money: historically the gap between a coin’s face value and its production cost. For modern fiat-backed stablecoins, it’s the interest earned on the reserves — a large issuer holding billions in Treasuries pockets the yield while token holders earn nothing, which is why stablecoin issuance became extraordinarily profitable as interest rates rose.
The term also names a failed stablecoin design (“seigniorage-style” algorithmic coins) that tried to expand and contract supply for profit and stability, and mostly imploded. Today the concept mainly explains the business model: understanding who captures the reserve yield clarifies both issuer incentives and the rise of yield-bearing stablecoins that share it back.