 Seigniorage is the positive return, or carry, on issued notes and coins (money in circulation).Demurrage, the opposite, is the cost of holding currency.An example of an exchange of gold for "paper" where no seigniorage occurs is when a person has one ounce of gold, trades it for a government-issued gold certificate (providing for redemption in one ounce of gold), keeps that certificate for a year, and redeems it in gold.