The MLM underbelly doubler business model is nothing new. Affiliates sign up and invest, with a 200% ROI offered either via a set timetable or open-ended.

The only source of revenue to pay the ROI is subsequently invested funds, making every doubler a Ponzi scheme.

HYIP scams have been using it with fiat currency for years, however recently there’s been a surge in cryptocurrency doublers.

To the best of my knowledge, the first scheme to combine cryptocurrency with the doubler model was GladiaCoin.

GladiaCoin launched in March and promised affiliate investors a 200% ROI in 90 days. Run by anonymous scammers, GladiaCoin has since spawned a number of clones.

Whereas HYIP doublers typically used forex trading as the ruse behind ROI revenue, cryptocurrency doublers use trading the currency itself. Proof of trading of any kind is of course never provided.

Well before the initial 90 day maturity period was up for initial investment, GladiaCoin ran into problems in late May.

On May 19th, GladiaCoin suspended affiliate ROI payouts for five days citing “conditions of the blockchain network”.

Bitcoin transactions have not been confirmed quickly as usual and this directly impacts the trading operation as we have thousands of queued orders waiting at least 1 confirmation that has taken up to 24 hours to consolidate.

Withdrawal restrictions were also tightened, limiting affiliates to withdrawing a minimum 0.1 BTC over the previous 0.03 BTC limit.

ROI payments did resume on May 20th, however a week later GladiaCoin was in trouble again.

In an attempt to recapture ROI payouts, GladiaCoin introduced higher investment amounts. A 15% monthly fee (on the initially invested amount) was also introduced.

Not surprisingly, GladiaCoin continued to deteriorate and on June 3rd suspended ROI payouts for another week.

In the latest email sent out to GladiaCoin affiliates on June 10th, the company has advised it will not meet its advertised 200% ROI on any funds invested that have already paid back more than was initially invested.

If you have already received at least your investment per login by adding up the value of Trader Bonus + Binary Bonus, you will no longer receive Trader Bonus as of today.

ROI payouts company-wide remain suspended, with the company promising

if you have not recovered your investment, rest assured!

Next week we will announce how you will recover at least the amount of your investment per login.

Not surprisingly, GladiaCoin’s recent ROI payout issues have nothing to do with cryptocurrency trading. Rather the company itself acknowledges it can’t pay because after ‘follow(ing) the work of investors, but the turnover has not recovered‘.

The “work of investors” and “turnover” is Ponzi code for “nobody is investing new money anymore”.

Thus the true nature of the business is revealed.

Every bitcoin doubler that has launched in the wake of GladiaCoin (JetCoin, Royal Dragon Traders, Cointherum etc.), all operate on this exact same business model.

The bottom line is when you’re using newly invested funds to pay off existing investors, you can only pay a 200% on a very limited number of investment amounts.

All of the bitcoin doublers also have a pyramid recruiting component, which further drains available ROI funds.

The end result is a collapse well before the promised maturity period, as not even the most cunning of scammers can beat basic mathematics.

For affiliates of such schemes the end-result is always the same: the majority lose money to the big recruiter minority.

As losses in bitcoin doublers continue to mount over the coming months, no doubt we’ll see more of them emerge. The more devious of which will be pitched to desperate investors trying to recoup existing losses.

Whether the anonymous scammers running these opportunities make off with your money or not is up to you.