Forget Bitcoin, This Virtual Currency Doubles Your Money Every Month

To produce bitcoins, processors must hum away solving mathematical problems. But mavros, another virtual currency, are simpler. They exist because Sergey Mavrodi, their creator, says they do. And while the recent spike in bitcoin value is the result of speculation on the open market, the rate for mavros is “established personally by Mr. Sergey Mavrodi…. twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays.” Their value doubles every month, in fact.

That’s because mavros are actually a pyramid scheme by design, existing only within their own world of what its founders call a “mutual aid fund.” The idea goes something like this: Put your money into the pool so that when somebody needs help, he can draw on the fund. After a gestation period, you can ask for your own money back and whatever else you need.

The company that runs mavros is called Mavrodi Mondial Moneybox, or MMM. It flies under the regulatory radar by claiming to be neither an investment fund nor a business. Instead, MMM calls itself “a voluntary informal network of millions of people across the earth, who rose up against the financial slavery” and “decided to declare war against the Federal Reserve and the bankers.”

Read more at Quartz.