The Development of the Darknet Market on the Dark web

[Micheal Jorden]

A variety of illegal items and services may be traded on darknet markets, often known as crypto markets, which provide a largely anonymous trading environment. On darknet markets, drugs are thought to make up about two-thirds of the offers.

Consequently, although being small compared to the broader retail drug industry, drug sales in these markets are important and seem to be growing.

 

The Development of Darknet Market Places

DNMs were developed with the growth of the darknet (also referred to as dark net markets). People started selling illicit information anonymously on the darknet without face-to-face interaction. Ambitious people built infrastructure for these transactions over time, allowing vendors to employ a digital "storefront" to offer their goods in a centralized marketplace as a swap for a charge.

The development of Bitcoin and other virtual currencies, which offered a functional payment method for products transferred, was one technical innovation that dramatically expedited the simplicity of running an illegal business such as a DNM on the dark web.

 

However, Ross Ulbricht, a resident of the United States, launched the initial DarkNet Market list, referred to as Silk Road, in 2011. Though it had some innocent listings, such as supplements, the vast majority of the sellers and many the sales were attached to illegal substances. 

Along with bringing tens of thousands of drug dealers together, Silk Road developed a user-friendly interface that appeared as if a clear-net shopping website. Over time, US police force was able to apprehend Ulbricht, and Silk Road was confiscated and shut down. Around 177,000 Bitcoin were also confiscated by US law enforcement.

Numerous sizable DNMs have been founded over time and eventually turn off by law authorities, including Wall Street, AlphaBay, Dream Market, and most recently Hydra.

Many of the top features of earlier marketplaces were employed by Hydra dark web links, which was almost entirely in Russian and whose sellers were mostly from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and neighboring countries. These features included a user-friendly interface, clear images of the advertised products, seller review systems, and straightforward, escrow-based purchases.

Additionally, vendors on Hydra provided services including "Hacking for Hire," "Ransomware as a Service," and a variety of money-laundering tools. Even though drug trade was on a Russia and its immediate neighbors, but anyone in the world with the way to pay could utilize the cyber and money laundering capabilities.

 

Track virtual currency exchanges to avoid DNMs

CSAM, the selling of illegal firearms, the sale of illegal drugs, hacking as something, and money laundering are just a couple types of unlawful operations that police force agencies and regulators continue to be enthusiastic about locating and disrupting on darknet websites, but how're they approaching this?

 

How are they approaching this with preventive measures?

Police and regulatory partners can identify counterparties and cashout locations employed by DNM proprietors using blockchain intelligence tools like TRM, to request documentation from those counterparties to possibly identify the proprietors, their virtual currency holdings, their infrastructure, and their locations. 

Meanwhile, in circumstances when it is successful, police force can confiscate the net infrastructure and remaining virtual currency, as was done in the Silk Road seizure, by fusing this knowledge with other investigative approaches.

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