Not long ago, a merchant found monkeys living near a village.

One day he came to the village stating that he wanted to buy monkeys for $100 each.

The villagers thought that the man must be crazy. Why would somebody buy stray monkeys at $100 each?

Still, people caught monkeys and sold them to the Merchant for $100 each.

This news spread like wildfire and more people caught monkeys and sold them to the Merchant.

After a few days, the Merchant announced that he would now buy monkeys for $200 each.

The laziest villagers now ran around to catch the remaining monkeys which they sold at $200 each.

The Merchant then announced that he would buy monkeys for $500 each!

The villagers caught six or seven monkeys, which were all that were left, and got $500 each.

They then waited anxiously for the next announcement.

Then the Merchant proclaimed that he was going on holiday for a week, but when he returned would buy monkeys at $1000 each. He also said that, in his absence, his Employee would be in charge to take care of the monkeys he had purchased. Then the Merchant went on holiday.

The villagers were frantic as there were no more monkeys left for them to sell at $1000 each as promised by the Merchant, but then the Merchant's Employee publicized that he would secretly sell some monkeys at $700 each.

This news spread like wildfire and the next day the villagers queued up near the monkey cage.

The Employee sold all the monkeys at $700 each. The rich villagers bought monkeys in large lots, and the poor borrowed money from money lenders and bought the rest of the monkeys.

The villagers took care of their monkeys and waited for the Merchant to return.

When the Merchant didn't return they searched for the Employee, but he could not be found either.

Eventually, the Villagers realized that they had been duped into buying the useless stray monkeys at $700 each and were now unable to sell them for any amount.

The monkey business is now known as cryptocurrency.