e$: The Book-Entry/Certificate Distinction

[Perry E. Metzger]

Robert Hettinga writes:
> A bond is a certificate with your signature saying that you'll pay a
> certain amount of money on a certain date, or that you owe a certain
> amount of money, and will pay interest at a certain rate to the
> bearer on a certain schedule, and principal on a certain date, *or*
> you could issue a bond with coupons that could be sent in to collect
> the interest.

Actually, what you've just described is general commercial paper, not
just a bond. Anything that lists a sum certain in money to be paid on
a date certain (with various other parameters, too, like a place) is
negotiable commercial paper. Checks, notes, and other instruments are
all commercial paper. They are not, by the way, certificates in the
sense that I suspect you mean.

Perry