How did the "silver devaluation" scheme work? I need help understanding what is going on with the Trenni silver coin scheme plot that is mentioned throughout episodes 3-7 of Spice and Wolf season 1. Let me explain what I understand and hopefully get some clarity about these Spice and Wolf episode plots (also if someone can block out the impending spoilers that would be awesome, I don't know how to do it)

So our main protagonist Lawrence gets word that the Trenni silver coin currency is about to go up in its silver purity. This means that both the actual metal value of the Trenni silver coin and its representative value will go up. 


   This all turns out to be wrong though, as Lawrence finds out the Trenni silver coins are actually becoming less pure and going down in value and what he was told was a lie. This plot then leads Lawrence to go over to the Milone trading company where somehow he hopes to make a profit off of telling the company this info.


Now this is where it gets complicated. How was the Milone trading company going to make money off of the devaluing currency and how was Medio involved with this?


In the anime the Milone Trading company, 


   upon hearing the devaluing silver info from Lawrence, started stockpiling Trenni silver coins. Why are they trying to stockpile the silver coins if their price and purity is going down? Shouldn't they be trying to get rid of all of their Trenni silver coins if the value is decreasing?  

Also it is mentioned that the Medio trading company is 


   hiring people to give merchants the wrong info about how the Trenni silver coins are going up in value instead of actually going down. Lawrence was even told this lie. How does the Medio Trading company possibly gain any advantage from this? 



Basically I am asking what is the economic plot in the episodes 3-7 of Spice and Wolf season 1, explained in little kid terms, so I can hopefully comprehend what is going on in the story and enjoy the anime even more. I am sorry for not being more economics-savvy with this, but if you understand the plot be much appreciated for some insight.
Ok, let's look at the situation more carefully. You have your Trenni silver coins, which have some % of silver in them. The market value of such a currency is bound to the amount of the noble metal in each coin. It's very simple and intuitive: silver is rare and valuable, so the more silver there is in a coin, the more is the value of that coin.

Now, we have a situation where the amount of silver in the coins is going to be decreased. What is going to happen? Well, the new Trenni coins (with less silver) will become less expensive than the old Trenni coins. That means, that it is profitable to save all the old coins you have.

By spreading the rumors that the amount of silver is going to increase, the Medio company is accomplishing two things at once. First, it makes people think that it's profitable to sell their coins now (because they think that after the new coins arrive, the value of the old ones will decrease). Second, it creates a possibility to make people selling their coins for even a lower price than they are now, simply because they want to get rid of the coins ASAP, before the price drops.

Also, if they already have some new coins, they can even trade them for a larger amount (say, 2 old ones for 1 new, people think the new ones are more valuable, remember) of old ones.

This lets the Medio company stock plenty of old silver coins, which as we know, in reality, will be worth more when the new ones are released. That's how they want to make the profit.

The Milone company, after getting the information from Lawrence, starts doing the same thing: buying Trenni coins to get a large stock of them before the new coins are released. After the new coins will be in play, people will, of course, know that they are really less valuable, and the value of Milone company's stock of old coins will increase further.

I hope the explanation wasn't too messy ;)