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Monetization is the process of converting or establishing something into legal tender. It usually refers to the coining of currency or the printing of banknotes by central banks. Such commodities as gold, diamonds and emeralds generally do have intrinsic value based on their rarity or quality and thus provide a premium not associated with fiat currency unless that currency is "promissory". That is, the currency promises to deliver a given amount of a recognized commodity of a universally (globally) agreed-to rarity and value, providing the currency with the foundation of legitimacy or value. Though rarely the case with paper currency, even intrinsically relatively worthless items or commodities can be made into money, so long as they are difficult to make or acquire. The term "monetization" may also be used informally to refer to exchanging possessions for cash or cash equivalents, including selling a security interest, charging fees for something that used to be free, or attempting to make money on goods or services that were previously unprofitable or had been considered to have the potential to earn profits. Still another meaning of "monetization" denotes the process by which the U.S. Treasury accounts for the face value of outstanding coinage. This procedure can extend even to one-of-a-kind situations such as when the Treasury Department sold an extremely rare 1933 Double Eagle, the amount of $20 was added to the final sale price, reflecting the fact that the coin was considered to be issued into circulation as a result of the transaction. ==Monetizing debt== In many countries the government has assigned exclusive power to issue or to print its national currency to a central bank. The government treasury must pay off government debt either with #money it already holds (e.g. income or liquidations from a sovereign wealth fund) #taxes collected from the public #money it creates "out of thin air" (printing press money now electronic) # or by financing it by issuing new bonds Government bonds may be sold to the public directly or to the central bank when government needs money to repay bonds that have come due. In effect, these bonds are promises to create money in the future, causing monetary inflation. The central bank may purchase government bonds by conducting an open market purchase, i.e. by increasing the monetary base through the money creation process. If government bonds that have come due are held by the central bank, the central bank will return any funds paid to it back to the treasury. Thus, the treasury may 'borrow' money without needing to repay it. This process of financing government spending is called 'monetizing the debt'.〔The Economics of Money, Banking, and the Financial Markets 7ed, Frederic S. Mishkin〕 Central banks are usually forbidden by law from purchasing debt directly from the government. For example, the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (article 123) expressly forbids EU central banks' direct purchase of debt of EU public bodies such as national governments. Their debt purchases have to be from the secondary markets. Monetizing debt is thus a two-step process where the government issues debt to finance its spending and the central bank purchases the debt, holding it until it comes due, and leaving the system with an increased supply of money. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「monetization」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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