{{short description|Virtual marketplace in the darknet}} {{protection padlock|small=yes}} A '''darknet market''' is a commercial website on the dark web that operates via darknets such as Tor and I2P.<ref name="guardian">{{cite web|last1=Bennett|first1=Cory|title=Private 'darknet' markets under "as_sign initially anonymous"siege|url=https://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/237905-private-darknet-markets-under-siege/|access-date=15 May 2015|date=2015-04-04|archive-date=2018-01-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180109192530/http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/237905-private-darknet-markets-under-siege|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=DeepDotWeb |date=2013-10-28 |title=Updated: List of Dark Net Markets (Tor & I2P) |url=http://www.deepdotweb.com/2013/10/28/updated-llist-of-hidden-marketplaces-tor-i2p/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150520175224/http://www.deepdotweb.com/2013/10/28/updated-llist-of-hidden-marketplaces-tor-i2p/ |archive-date=20 May 2015 |access-date=17 May 2015}}</ref> They function primarily as black markets, selling or brokering transactions involving drugs, cyber-arms,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Winder |first=Davey |date=21 Apr 2015 |title=Is this new zero-day dark market the real deal? |url=http://www.itpro.co.uk/security/24478/is-this-new-zero-day-dark-market-the-real-deal |access-date=17 May 2015 |archive-date=12 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612141008/http://www.itpro.co.uk/security/24478/is-this-new-zero-day-dark-market-the-real-deal |url-status=live }}</ref> weapons, counterfeit currency, stolen credit card details,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=van Hardeveld |first1=Gert Jan |last2=Webber |first2=Craig |last3=O'Hara |first3=Kieron |year=2017 |title=Deviating From the Cybercriminal Script: Exploring Tools of Anonymity (Mis)Used by Carders on Cryptomarkets |url=https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/413441/1/Final_Paper_After_Acceptance.pdf |journal=American Behavioral Scientist |volume=61 |issue=11 |pages=1244–1266 |doi=10.1177/0002764217734271 |s2cid=149063898 |access-date=2020-09-06 |archive-date=2021-04-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414090326/https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/413441/1/Final_Paper_After_Acceptance.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> forged documents, unlicensed pharmaceuticals,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Whitaker |first=Ross |date=14 July 2015 |title=Why I Had to Buy My Wife's Inhaler on the Dark Web |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/why-i-had-to-buy-my-wifes-inhaler-on-the-dark-web/ |access-date=14 July 2015 |archive-date=18 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118134454/https://motherboard.vice.com/read/why-i-had-to-buy-my-wifes-inhaler-on-the-dark-web |url-status=live }}</ref> steroids,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Plenke |first=Max |date=18 May 2015 |title=Inside the Underground Market Where Bodybuilders Find Dangerous, Illegal Steroids |url=http://mic.com/articles/117726/inside-the-underground-market-where-bodybuilders-find-dangerous-illegal-steroids |access-date=5 September 2015 |archive-date=24 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180924011215/https://mic.com/articles/117726/inside-the-underground-market-where-bodybuilders-find-dangerous-illegal-steroids |url-status=live }}</ref> and other illicit goods as well as the sale of legal products.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bartlett |first=Jamie |date=5 October 2014 |title=Dark net markets: the eBay of drug dealing |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/oct/05/dark-net-markets-drugs-dealing-ebay |access-date=17 May 2008 |archive-date=8 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170308200507/https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/oct/05/dark-net-markets-drugs-dealing-ebay |url-status=live }}</ref> In December 2014, a study by Gareth Owen from the University of Portsmouth suggested the second most popular sites on Tor were darknet markets.<ref name="jb">{{Cite news |last=Mark |first=Ward |date=30 December 2014 |title=Tor's most visited hidden sites host child abuse images |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-30637010 |access-date=28 May 2015 |archive-date=30 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191230091620/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-30637010 |url-status=live }}</ref>
Following on from the model developed by Silk Road, contemporary markets are characterized by their use of darknet anonymized access (typically Tor), Bitcoin or Monero payment with escrow services, and eBay-like vendor feedback systems.<ref name="febEMCDDA" />
== History ==
=== 1970s to 2011 === Though e-commerce on the dark web started around 2006, illicit goods were among the first items to be transacted using the internet, when in the early 1970s students at Stanford University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology used the ARPANET to coordinate the purchase of cannabis.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Power |first=Mike |date=19 April 2013 |title=Online highs are old as the net: the first e-commerce was a drugs deal |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/apr/19/online-high-net-drugs-deal |access-date=26 May 2015 |archive-date=30 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161130044158/https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/apr/19/online-high-net-drugs-deal |url-status=live }}</ref> By the end of the 1980s, newsgroups like alt.drugs would become online centres of drug discussion and information; however, any related deals were arranged entirely off-site directly between individuals.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Patrick Howell O'Neill |date=15 February 2015 |title=The uncensored history of the Internet's drug revolution |url=http://kernelmag.dailydot.com/issue-sections/features-issue-sections/11680/hive-silk-road-drugs-history/ |access-date=26 May 2015 |archive-date=27 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150527042855/http://kernelmag.dailydot.com/issue-sections/features-issue-sections/11680/hive-silk-road-drugs-history/ |url-status=live }}</ref> With the development and popularization of the World Wide Web and e-commerce in the 1990s, the tools to discuss or conduct illicit transactions became more widely available. One of the better-known web-based drug forums, The Hive, launched in 1997, serving as an information sharing forum for practical drug synthesis and legal discussion. The Hive was featured in a ''Dateline NBC'' special called ''The "X" Files'' in 2001, bringing the subject into public discourse.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Patrick Howell O'Neill |date=28 August 2013 |title=How the Internet powered a DIY drug revolution |url=http://www.dailydot.com/crime/hive-silk-road-online-drug-culture-history/ |access-date=30 May 2015 |archive-date=27 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150527042019/http://www.dailydot.com/crime/hive-silk-road-online-drug-culture-history/ |url-status=live }}</ref> From 2003, the "Research Chemical Mailing List" (RCML) would discuss sourcing "Research Chemicals" from legal and grey sources as an alternative to forums such as alt.drugs.psychedelics. However Operation Web Tryp led to a series of website shut downs and arrests in this area.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Power |first=Mike |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7iTIy0MoDxsC&q=%22research+chemical+mailing+list%22&pg=PT89 |title=Drugs 2.0 |date=2013-05-02 |publisher=Granta Publications |isbn=9781846274619}}</ref>
Since the year 2000, some of the emerging cyber-arms industry operates online, including the Eastern European "Cyber-arms Bazaar", trafficking in the most powerful crimeware and hacking tools.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cyber Security Dojo |date=13 May 2015 |title=Romania defending Ukraine's cyberspace |url=http://cybersecuritydojo.com/romania-defending-ukraines-cyberspace/ |url-status=dead |access-date=14 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150517071524/http://cybersecuritydojo.com/romania-defending-ukraines-cyberspace/ |archive-date=17 May 2015}}</ref> In the 2000s, early cybercrime and carding forums such as ShadowCrew experimented with drug wholesaling on a limited scale.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Allen |first=Hoffmann |date=5 January 2015 |title=Before DarkNetMarkets Were Mainstream |url=https://www.deepdotweb.com/2015/01/05/darknetmarkets-mainstream/ |url-status=dead |access-date=16 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150630144459/https://www.deepdotweb.com/2015/01/05/darknetmarkets-mainstream/ |archive-date=30 June 2015}}</ref>
The Farmer's Market was launched in 2006 and moved onto Tor in 2010. In 2012, it was closed and several operators and users were arrested as a result of Operation Adam Bomb, a two-year investigation led by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.<ref name="schwartz">{{Cite web |last=Schwartz |first=Mathew J. |date=17 April 2012 |title=Feds Bust 'Farmer's Market' for Online Drugs |url=http://www.darkreading.com/attacks-and-breaches/feds-bust-farmers-market-for-online-drugs/d/d-id/1103901? |website=Dark Reading |publisher=Information Week |access-date=24 May 2015 |archive-date=13 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190413202835/https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-and-breaches/feds-bust-farmers-market-for-online-drugs/d/d-id/1103901 |url-status=live }}</ref> It has been considered a "proto-Silk Road" but the use of payment services such as PayPal and Western Union allowed law enforcement to trace payments and it was subsequently shut down by the FBI in 2012.<ref name="Power2013">{{Cite news |date=17 April 2012 |title=US busts online drugs ring Farmer's Market |work=BBC |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17738207 |access-date=18 October 2013 |archive-date=21 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221221651/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17738207 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=8 June 2012 |title=Black Market Drug Site 'Silk Road' Booming: $22 Million In Annual Sales |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2012/08/06/black-market-drug-site-silk-road-booming-22-million-in-annual-mostly-illegal-sales |access-date=18 October 2013 |website=Forbes |archive-date=14 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131014155512/http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2012/08/06/black-market-drug-site-silk-road-booming-22-million-in-annual-mostly-illegal-sales/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
=== Silk Road and early markets ===
The first marketplace to use both Tor and Bitcoin escrow was Silk Road, founded by Ross Ulbricht under pseudonym "Dread Pirate Roberts" in February 2011.<ref name="dbvc">{{Cite news |last1=Justin Norrie |last2=Asher Moses |date=12 June 2011 |title=Drugs bought with virtual cash |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |agency=Fairfax Media |url=https://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/drugs-bought-with-virtual-cash-20110611-1fy0a.html |access-date=5 November 2011 |archive-date=15 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111115204720/http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/drugs-bought-with-virtual-cash-20110611-1fy0a.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In June 2011, Gawker published an article about the site,<ref name="GawkerChen">{{Cite news |last=Adrian Chen |author-link=Adrian Chen |date=1 June 2011 |title=The Underground Website Where You Can Buy Any Drug Imaginable |work=Gawker |url=http://gawker.com/5805928/the-underground-website-where-you-can-buy-any-drug-imaginable |url-status=dead |access-date=15 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613040631/http://gawker.com/5805928/the-underground-website-where-you-can-buy-any-drug-imaginable |archive-date=13 June 2011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Solon |first=Olivia |date=1 February 2013 |title=Police crack down on Silk Road following first drug dealer conviction Technology |publisher=Wired |url=https://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-02/01/silk-road-crackdown |access-date=19 April 2013 |archive-date=16 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130416135844/http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-02/01/silk-road-crackdown |url-status=live }}</ref> which led to "Internet buzz"<ref name="one" /> and an increase in website traffic.<ref name="dbvc" /> This in turn led to political pressure from Senator Chuck Schumer on the US DEA and Department of Justice to shut it down,<ref name="SecNarc">{{Cite news |date=5 June 2011 |title=Schumer Pushes to Shut Down Online Drug Marketplace |publisher=NBC New York |agency=Associated Press |url=http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/123187958.html |access-date=15 June 2011 |archive-date=4 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004214117/http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/123187958.html |url-status=live }}</ref> which they finally did in October 2013 after a lengthy investigation.<ref name="complaint1">{{Cite web |date=27 September 2014 |title=Sealed Complaint 13 MAG 2328: United States of America v. Ross William Ulbricht |url=https://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb/UlbrichtCriminalComplaint.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140220003018/https://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb/UlbrichtCriminalComplaint.pdf |archive-date=2014-02-20 |access-date=27 January 2014}}</ref> Silk Road's use of Tor, Bitcoin escrow and feedback systems would set the standard for new darknet markets for the coming years.<ref>{{Cite AV media |title=Deep Web |year=2015}}</ref> The shutdown was described by news site DeepDotWeb as "the best advertising the dark net markets could have hoped for" following the proliferation of competing sites this caused,<ref name="double" /> and ''The Guardian'' predicted others would take over the market that Silk Road previously dominated.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Alex Hern |date=18 October 2013 |title=Silk Road replacement Black Market Reloaded briefly closed |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/18/silk-road-black-market-reloaded-closed |access-date=18 October 2013 |archive-date=18 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131018104433/http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/18/silk-road-black-market-reloaded-closed |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Samuel Gibbs |date=3 October 2013 |title=Silk Road underground market closed – but others will replace it |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/03/silk-road-underground-market-closed-Bitcoin |access-date=18 October 2013 |archive-date=12 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012204409/http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/03/silk-road-underground-market-closed-bitcoin |url-status=live }}</ref>
The months and years after Silk Road's closure were marked by a greatly increased number of shorter-lived markets as well as semi-regular law enforcement takedowns, hacks, scams and voluntary closures.
Atlantis, the first site to accept Litecoin as well as Bitcoin, closed in September 2013, just prior to the Silk Road raid, leaving users just one week to withdraw any coins.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Chen |first=Adrian |date=20 September 2013 |title=Popular Underground Drug Market Shuts Down for 'Security Reasons' |url=http://gawker.com/popular-dark-net-illegal-drug-market-shuts-down-for-se-1355611954 |url-status=dead |access-date=5 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150707061946/http://gawker.com/popular-dark-net-illegal-drug-market-shuts-down-for-se-1355611954 |archive-date=7 July 2015}}</ref><ref name=green1113 /> In October 2013, Project Black Flag closed and stole their users' bitcoins in the panic shortly after Silk Road's shut down.<ref name="green1113">{{Cite web |last=Greenberg |first=Andy |date=30 October 2013 |title='Silk Road 2.0' Launches, Promising A Resurrected Black Market For The Dark Web |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/11/06/silk-road-2-0-launches-promising-a-resurrected-black-market-for-the-dark-web/ |access-date=6 November 2013 |website=Forbes |archive-date=6 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131106231716/https://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/11/06/silk-road-2-0-launches-promising-a-resurrected-black-market-for-the-dark-web/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=DeepDotWeb |author-link=DeepDotWeb |date=30 October 2013 |title=Project Black Flag Waves the White Flag |url=https://www.deepdotweb.com/2013/10/30/project-black-flag-waves-the-white-flag/ |url-status=dead |access-date=5 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150809022649/https://www.deepdotweb.com/2013/10/30/project-black-flag-waves-the-white-flag/ |archive-date=9 August 2015}}</ref> Black Market Reloaded's popularity increased dramatically after the closure of Silk Road and Sheep Marketplace;<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bilton |first=Nick |date=2013-11-17 |title=Disruptions: A Digital Underworld cloaked in anonymity |url=http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/17/disruptions-a-digital-underworld-cloaked-in-anonymity/ |website=The New York Times |access-date=2015-05-24 |archive-date=2015-05-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150525105135/http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/17/disruptions-a-digital-underworld-cloaked-in-anonymity/ |url-status=live }}</ref> however, in late November 2013, the owner of Black Market Reloaded announced that the website would be taken offline due to the unmanageable influx of new customers this caused.<ref name="forbes1">{{Cite news |last=Greenburg |first=Andy |date=1 December 2013 |title=Silk Road Competitor Shuts Down And Another Plans To Go Offline After Claimed $6 Million Theft |work=Forbes |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/12/01/silk-road-competitor-shuts-down-and-another-plans-to-go-offline-after-6-million-theft/ |access-date=4 January 2014 |archive-date=26 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170526004423/https://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/12/01/silk-road-competitor-shuts-down-and-another-plans-to-go-offline-after-6-million-theft/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Sheep Marketplace, which launched in March 2013, was one of the lesser known sites to gain popularity with Silk Road's closure.<ref name="luxury">{{Cite web |last=Patrick Howell O'Neill |date=27 March 2015 |title=Suspected Dark Net master thief busted trying to buy luxury Czech home |url=http://www.dailydot.com/crime/sheep-marketplace-scam-arrested/ |website=Daily Dot |access-date=24 May 2015 |archive-date=28 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150328110506/http://www.dailydot.com/crime/sheep-marketplace-scam-arrested/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Not long after those events, in December 2013, it ceased operation after two Florida men stole $6 million worth of users' Bitcoins.<ref name="jeffries">{{Cite web |last=Adrianne Jeffries |date=2013-04-29 |title=Drugs, porn, and counterfeits: the market for illegal goods is booming online |url=https://www.theverge.com/2013/4/29/4281656/silk-road-black-market-reloaded-tor-marketplaces |access-date=2013-12-02 |website=The Verge |archive-date=2017-09-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170928094216/https://www.theverge.com/2013/4/29/4281656/silk-road-black-market-reloaded-tor-marketplaces |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="bbc 12-02">{{Cite news |date=2013-12-02 |title=Dark marketplace closes after theft of £3m in bitcoins |work=BBC |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25185225 |access-date=2013-12-02 |archive-date=2018-06-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615165526/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25185225 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="techienews">{{Cite web |last=Mandalia |first=Ravi |date=2013-12-01 |title=Silk Road-like Sheep Marketplace scams users; over 39k Bitcoins worth $40 million stolen |url=http://www.techienews.co.uk/973470/silk-road-like-sheep-marketplace-scams-users-39k-bitcoins-worth-40-million-stolen/ |access-date=2013-12-02 |publisher=Techie News |archive-date=2015-09-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924113721/http://www.techienews.co.uk/973470/silk-road-like-sheep-marketplace-scams-users-39k-bitcoins-worth-40-million-stolen/ |url-status=live }}</ref> thumb|DOJ-OIG Audit (2020-12-18)
=== Since Silk Road === From late 2013 through to 2014, new markets started launching with regularity, such as the Silk Road 2.0, run by the former Silk Road site administrators, as well as the Agora marketplace.<ref name="agoraupdate" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Grenberg |first=Andy |date=6 December 2013 |title=New Silk Road Drug Market Backed Up To '500 Locations In 17 Countries' To Resist Another Takedown |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/12/06/new-silk-road-drug-market-backed-up-to-500-locations-in-17-countries-to-resist-another-takedown/ |access-date=30 December 2013 |website=Forbes.com |archive-date=30 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131230232949/http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/12/06/new-silk-road-drug-market-backed-up-to-500-locations-in-17-countries-to-resist-another-takedown/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Such launches were not always a success; in February 2014 Utopia,<ref>{{Cite news |last=DeepDotWeb |date=3 February 2014 |title=Utopia Marketplace is Now Officially Open! |url=http://www.deepdotweb.com/2014/02/03/utopia-marketplace-is-now-officialy-open/ |url-status=dead |access-date=24 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150418080359/http://www.deepdotweb.com/2014/02/03/utopia-marketplace-is-now-officialy-open/ |archive-date=18 April 2015}}</ref> the highly anticipated market based on Black Market Reloaded,<ref>{{Cite news |last=DeepDotWeb |date=31 December 2013 |title=BMR Based Market: Utopia Market |url=http://www.deepdotweb.com/2013/12/31/new-bmr-based-market-utopia-market/ |url-status=dead |access-date=31 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150418080007/http://www.deepdotweb.com/2013/12/31/new-bmr-based-market-utopia-market/ |archive-date=18 April 2015}}</ref> opened only to shut down eight days later following rapid actions by Dutch law enforcement.<ref>{{Cite news |last=BBC Technology |date=12 February 2014 |title=Utopia drugs market forced off Tor by Dutch police |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-26147994 |access-date=24 May 2015 |archive-date=25 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925200208/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-26147994 |url-status=live }}</ref> February 2014 also marked the short lifespans of Black Goblin Market and CannabisRoad, two sites which closed after being deanonymized without much effort.<ref>{{Cite news |last=DeepDotWeb |date=9 February 2014 |title=Another Two Bites The Dust (Black Goblin Marketplace & CannabisRoad) |url=https://www.deepdotweb.com/2014/02/09/another-two-bites-the-dust-black-goblin-marketplace-cannabisroad/ |url-status=dead |access-date=17 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161001164115/https://www.deepdotweb.com/2014/02/09/another-two-bites-the-dust-black-goblin-marketplace-cannabisroad/ |archive-date=1 October 2016}}</ref>
November 2014 briefly shook the darknet market ecosystem, when Operation Onymous, executed by the United States' FBI and UK's National Crime Agency, led to the seizure of 27 hidden sites, including Silk Road 2.0, one of the largest markets at the time,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Templeton |first=Graham |date=8 November 2014 |title=Dark market massacre: FBI shuts down Silk Road 2.0 and dozens more Tor websites |url=http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/193821-dark-market-massacre-fbi-shuts-down-silk-road-2-0-and-400-other-tor-websites |access-date=19 May 2015 |archive-date=16 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150516055557/http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/193821-dark-market-massacre-fbi-shuts-down-silk-road-2-0-and-400-other-tor-websites |url-status=live }}</ref> as well 12 smaller markets and individual vendor sites.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Vinton |first=Kate |date=7 November 2015 |title=So Far Feds Have Only Confirmed Seizing 27 "Dark Market" Sites In Operation Onymous |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/katevinton/2014/11/07/operation-onymous-dark-markets/ |access-date=26 May 2015 |archive-date=25 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150525031123/http://www.forbes.com/sites/katevinton/2014/11/07/operation-onymous-dark-markets/ |url-status=live }}</ref> By September 2014, Agora was reported to be the largest market, avoiding Operation Onymous; {{as of|2015|April|lc=y}}, Agora has gone on to be the largest overall marketplace,<ref name="dca" /> with more listings than the Silk Road at its height.<ref name="agoraupdate">Andy Greenberg. [https://www.wired.com/2014/09/agora-bigger-than-silk-road/ "Drug Market 'Agora' Replaces the Silk Road as King of the Dark Net".] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170224082408/https://www.wired.com/2014/09/agora-bigger-than-silk-road/ |date=2017-02-24 }} ''Wired'', 2 September 2014.</ref>
Further market diversification occurred in 2015, as did further developments around escrow and decentralization.
In March 2015, the Evolution marketplace performed an "exit scam", stealing escrowed bitcoins worth $12 million, half of the ecosystem's listing market share at that time.<ref name="evo">{{Cite news |last=Greenberg |first=Andy |date=18 March 2015 |title=The Dark Web's Top Drug Market, Evolution, Just Vanished |url=https://www.wired.com/2015/03/evolution-disappeared-Bitcoin-scam-dark-web/ |access-date=4 July 2015 |archive-date=5 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150705173147/http://www.wired.com/2015/03/evolution-disappeared-bitcoin-scam-dark-web/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The closure of Evolution led to users redistributing to Black Bank and Agora. However Black Bank, which {{as of|2015|April|lc=y}} captured 5% of the darknet market's listings, announced on May 18, 2015, its closure for "maintenance"<ref name="blackbank">{{Cite news |last=DeepDotWeb |date=18 May 2015 |title=BlackBank Under Maintenance |url=http://www.deepdotweb.com/2015/05/18/blackbank-under-maintenance/ |url-status=dead |access-date=31 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150525113801/http://www.deepdotweb.com/2015/05/18/blackbank-under-maintenance/ |archive-date=25 May 2015}}</ref> before disappearing in a similar scam.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Black Bank Bitcoin Market |url=http://www.deepdotweb.com/marketplace-directory/listing/black-bank-Bitcoin-market |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170113172115/https://www.deepdotweb.com/marketplace-directory/listing/black-bank-Bitcoin-market/ |archive-date=2017-01-13 |access-date=2017-01-10 |website=DeepDotWeb}}</ref> Following these events commentators suggested that further market decentralization could be required, such as the service OpenBazaar, in order to protect buyers and vendors from this risk in the future as well as more widespread support from multisig cryptocurrency payments.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cohen |first=David |date=18 January 2015 |title=After The Social Web, Here Comes The Trust Web |url=https://techcrunch.com/2015/01/18/after-the-social-web-here-comes-the-trust-web/ |access-date=4 July 2015 |publisher=TechChrunch |archive-date=6 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220206055440/https://techcrunch.com/2015/01/18/after-the-social-web-here-comes-the-trust-web/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="blog.openbazaar.org">{{Cite news |last=OpenBazaar Team |date=19 March 2015 |title=Evolution Exit Scam Shows Multisig Isn't Enough: We need Decentralization |url=https://blog.openbazaar.org/evolution-exit-scam-shows-multisig-isnt-enough-we-need-decentralization/ |url-status=dead |access-date=26 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304102814/https://blog.openbazaar.org/evolution-exit-scam-shows-multisig-isnt-enough-we-need-decentralization/ |archive-date=4 March 2016}}</ref>
In April, TheRealDeal, the first open cyber-arms market for software exploits as well as drugs, launched to the interest of computer security experts.<ref name="realdeal">{{Cite news |last=Greenberg |first=Andy |date=17 April 2015 |title=New Dark-Web Market Is Selling Zero-Day Exploits to Hackers |url=https://www.wired.com/2015/04/therealdeal-zero-day-exploits/ |access-date=24 May 2015 |archive-date=10 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200310025521/https://www.wired.com/2015/04/therealdeal-zero-day-exploits/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In May, varied DDOS attacks were performed against different markets including TheRealDeal. The market owners set up a phishing website to get the attacker's password, and subsequently revealed collaboration between the attacker and the administrator of Mr Nice Guy's market who was also planning to scam his users.<ref>{{Cite news |last=DeepDotWeb |date=31 May 2015 |title=Meet The Market Admin Who Was Responsible For the Ddos Attacks |url=https://www.deepdotweb.com/2015/05/31/meet-the-market-admin-who-was-responsible-for-the-ddos-attacks/ |url-status=dead |access-date=7 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150603053525/http://www.deepdotweb.com/2015/05/31/meet-the-market-admin-who-was-responsible-for-the-ddos-attacks |archive-date=3 June 2015}}</ref> This information was revealed to news site DeepDotWeb.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cox |first=Joseph |date=4 June 2015 |title=A Dark Web Tale of DDoS Attacks, Phishing, and 'Deals With the Devil' |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/a-dark-web-tale-of-ddos-attacks-phishing-and-deals-with-the-devil/ |access-date=7 June 2015 |archive-date=7 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150607023557/http://motherboard.vice.com/read/a-dark-web-tale-of-ddos-attacks-phishing-and-deals-with-the-devil |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Paganini |first=Pierluigi |date=7 June 2015 |title=The silent war between black markets in the deep web |url=http://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/37540/cyber-crime/black-markets-war.html |access-date=7 June 2015 |archive-date=7 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150607123642/http://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/37540/cyber-crime/black-markets-war.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
On July 31, the Italian police in conjunction with Europol shut down the Italian language Babylon darknet market seizing 11,254 Bitcoin wallet addresses and 1 million euros.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Willan |first=Philip |date=31 July 2015 |title=Italian police shutter Dark Web marketplace |url=http://www.pcworld.com/article/2955572/italian-police-shutter-dark-web-marketplace.html |access-date=2 August 2015 |archive-date=4 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150804001838/http://www.pcworld.com/article/2955572/italian-police-shutter-dark-web-marketplace.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=DeepDotWeb |date=2 August 2015 |title=Italian police Bust "Babylon" Dark Web Market |url=https://www.deepdotweb.com/2015/08/02/italian-police-bust-babylon-dark-web-market/ |url-status=dead |access-date=2 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150803151415/https://www.deepdotweb.com/2015/08/02/italian-police-bust-babylon-dark-web-market/ |archive-date=3 August 2015}}</ref>
At the end of August, the leading marketplace Agora announced its imminent temporary closure after reporting suspicious activity on their server, suspecting some kind of deanonymization bug in Tor.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Greenberg |first=Andy |date=26 August 2015 |title=Agora, the Dark Web's Biggest Drug Market, Is Going Offline |url=https://www.wired.com/2015/08/agora-dark-webs-biggest-drug-market-going-offline/ |access-date=13 September 2015 |archive-date=15 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160815105345/https://www.wired.com/2015/08/agora-dark-webs-biggest-drug-market-going-offline/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
By October 2015, AlphaBay was recognized as the largest market.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Buying Drugs Online Remains Easy |url=http://southwestcoalition.org/buying-drugs-online-remains-easy/ |publisher=Southwest Coalition |access-date=2016-03-16 |archive-date=2020-09-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923012849/http://southwestcoalition.org/buying-drugs-online-remains-easy/ |url-status=live }}</ref> From then on, through to 2016 there was a period of extended stability for the markets, until in April when the large Nucleus marketplace collapsed for unknown reasons, taking escrowed coins with it.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cox |first=Joseph |date=19 April 2016 |title=Dark Web Market Disappears, Users Migrate in Panic, Circle of Life Continues |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/dark-web-market-disappears-users-migrate-in-panic-circle-of-life-continues/ |access-date=23 April 2016 |archive-date=22 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160422195206/http://motherboard.vice.com/read/dark-web-market-disappears-users-migrate-in-panic-circle-of-life-continues |url-status=live }}</ref>
On April 28, investigations into the Italian Darknet Community (IDC) forum-based marketplace led to a number of key arrests.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Aliens |first=C |date=12 May 2017 |title=Italy Watched the Italian Darknet Community Since 2016 |url=https://www.deepdotweb.com/2017/05/12/italy-watched-italian-darknet-community-since-2016/ |url-status=dead |access-date=22 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170710002437/https://www.deepdotweb.com/2017/05/12/italy-watched-italian-darknet-community-since-2016/ |archive-date=10 July 2017}}</ref>
In May 2017, the Bloomsfield Market closed after investigations in Slovakia inadvertently led to the arrests of its operators.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cimpanu |first=Catalin |date=5 May 2017 |title=Dark Web Marketplace Shut Down in Slovakia |url=https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/dark-web-marketplace-shut-down-in-slovakia/ |access-date=28 May 2017 |archive-date=10 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510014324/https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/dark-web-marketplace-shut-down-in-slovakia/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Later that month, the long-lived Outlaw market closed down citing a major bitcoin cryptocurrency wallet theft; however, speculation remained that it was an exit scam.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cimpanu |first=Catalin |date=20 May 2017 |title=Dark Web Market Shuts Down Claiming Hack, but Users Fear an Exit Scam |url=https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/dark-web-market-shuts-down-claiming-hack-but-users-fear-an-exit-scam/ |access-date=28 May 2017 |archive-date=24 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190624141421/https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/dark-web-market-shuts-down-claiming-hack-but-users-fear-an-exit-scam/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
In July 2017, the markets experienced their largest disruptions since Operation Onymous, when Operation Bayonet culminated in coordinated multinational seizures of both the Hansa and leading AlphaBay markets, sparking worldwide law enforcement investigations.<ref>{{Cite news |date=20 July 2017 |title=Massive blow to criminal Dark Web activities after globally coordinated operation |url=https://www.europol.europa.eu/newsroom/news/massive-blow-to-criminal-dark-web-activities-after-globally-coordinated-operation |access-date=20 July 2017 |archive-date=23 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923012843/https://www.europol.europa.eu/newsroom/news/massive-blow-to-criminal-dark-web-activities-after-globally-coordinated-operation |url-status=live }}</ref> The seizures brought in lots of traffic to other markets making TradeRoute and Dream Market the most popular markets at the time.
In October 2017, TradeRoute exit-scammed shortly after being hacked and extorted.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Aliens |first=C |date=15 October 2017 |title=TradeRoute Went Down Following a Major Security Leak |url=https://www.deepdotweb.com/2017/10/15/traderoutesecurityleak/ |url-status=dead |access-date=16 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171016194606/https://www.deepdotweb.com/2017/10/15/traderoutesecurityleak/ |archive-date=16 October 2017}}</ref>
In June 2018, the digital security organization Digital Shadows reported that, due to the climate of fear and mistrust after the closure of AlphaBay and Hansa, darknet market activity was switching away from centralized marketplace websites and towards alternatives such as direct chat on Telegram, or decentralized marketplaces like OpenBazaar.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Dark web souks are so last year: Cybercrooks are switching to Telegram|website=The Register|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/06/07/cybercrime_bazaar_to_telegram/|access-date=2018-07-01|archive-date=2018-07-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180701193817/https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/06/07/cybercrime_bazaar_to_telegram/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-06-26 |title=Darknet Vendors and Buyers Switching to Decentralized Trading Solutions |url=https://www.deepdotweb.com/2018/06/26/darknet-vendors-and-buyers-switching-to-decentralized-trading-solutions/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180701194405/https://www.deepdotweb.com/2018/06/26/darknet-vendors-and-buyers-switching-to-decentralized-trading-solutions/ |archive-date=2018-07-01 |access-date=2018-07-01}}</ref>
In 2019, Dream Market was the most popular market by far, with over 120,000 current trade listings, followed at one time by Wall Street Market with under 10,000 listings.{{citation needed|date=May 2019}} Dream Market was shut down in 2019, and Wall Street Market was seized by law enforcement in May 2019<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dark Web's Wall Street Market & Valhalla Seized, Six Arrested |url=https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/dark-web-s-wall-street-market-and-valhalla-seized-six-arrested/ |access-date=2019-05-04 |website=Bleeping Computer |language=en-US |archive-date=2019-05-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190504183008/https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/dark-web-s-wall-street-market-and-valhalla-seized-six-arrested/ |url-status=live }}</ref> as part of an Internal Law Enforcement Operation Dark Huntor.<ref name="Department of Justice">{{cite web |title=International Law Enforcement Operation Targeting Opioid Traffickers on the Darknet Results in 150 Arrests Worldwide and the Seizure of Weapons, Drugs, and over $31 Million |url=https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/international-law-enforcement-operation-targeting-opioid-traffickers-darknet-results-150 |website=Office of Public Affairs Press Release |publisher=Department of Justice |access-date=24 January 2024 |date=26 October 2021 |archive-date=24 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240124004021/https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/international-law-enforcement-operation-targeting-opioid-traffickers-darknet-results-150 |url-status=live }}</ref> That same operation also shut down the dark markets DeepSea, Berlusconi,<ref name=":5">{{cite web |title=ICE HSI supports extensive international operation targeting Darknet opioid traffickers |url=https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ice-hsi-supports-extensive-international-operation-targeting-darknet-opioid |publisher=U.S.A. Immigration and Customs Enforcement - Cyber Crimes |access-date=24 January 2024 |date=1 November 2021 |archive-date=23 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240123215146/https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ice-hsi-supports-extensive-international-operation-targeting-darknet-opioid |url-status=live }}</ref> White House, and Dark Market.<ref name="Department of Justice"/>
The May 2019 seizure of news and links site DeepDotWeb for conspiring with the markets created a temporary disruption around market navigation.<ref name="Kan2019" />
In 2021, authorities took down the dark web marketplace DarkMarket, along with arresting the Australian man who was believed to be the operator of the website. The 20 servers that hosted the website were seized.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Campbell|first=Ian Carlos|date=2021-01-12|title=Authorities have taken down the dark web's largest illegal marketplace|url=https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/12/22227929/darkmarket-shutdown-europol-worlds-largest-illegal-marketplace|access-date=2021-01-13|website=The Verge|language=en|archive-date=2021-01-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210113015853/https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/12/22227929/darkmarket-shutdown-europol-worlds-largest-illegal-marketplace|url-status=live}}</ref>
In August 2021, AlphaBay was relaunched after the return of one of the original security administrators DeSnake.<ref name="WIRED">{{cite magazine |last1=Greenberg |first1=Andy |title=He Escaped the Dark Web's Biggest Bust. Now He's Back |url=https://www.wired.com/story/alphabay-desnake-dark-web-interview/ |magazine=Wired |publisher=Condé Nast Publications |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923132523/https://www.wired.com/story/alphabay-desnake-dark-web-interview/ |archive-date=September 23, 2021 |date=September 23, 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>
In June 2025 Europol took down the Archetyp Market with an estimated 3200 registered vendors and 600,000 customers worldwide.<ref>[https://uk.pcmag.com/security/158614/police-seize-dark-web-drug-site-archetyp-arrest-its-administrator Michael Kan: "Police Seize Dark Web Drug Site Archetyp, Arrest Its Administrator"] pcmag.com, 18 June 2025</ref>
== Market features ==
=== Search and discussion === One of the central<ref>{{Cite news |last=Greenberg |first=Andy |date=30 March 2015 |title=Feds Demand Reddit Identify Users of a Dark-Web Drug Forum |url=https://www.wired.com/2015/03/dhs-reddit-dark-web-drug-forum/ |access-date=26 May 2015 |archive-date=25 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150525042808/http://www.wired.com/2015/03/dhs-reddit-dark-web-drug-forum/ |url-status=live }}</ref> discussion forums was Reddit's /r/DarkNetMarkets/,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.reddit.com/r/darknetmarkets/|title=r/DarkNetMarkets|website=reddit|access-date=2015-05-26|archive-date=2015-05-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150527104548/http://www.reddit.com/r/darknetmarkets|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="yahoo">{{Cite news |last=Swearingen |first=Jake |date=2 October 2014 |title=A Year After Death of Silk Road, Darknet Markets Are Booming |url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/death-silk-road-darknet-markets-142500702.html |access-date=24 May 2015 |archive-date=30 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191230091252/https://finance.yahoo.com/news/death-silk-road-darknet-markets-142500702.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Knibbs |first=Kate |date=30 March 2015 |title=Feds Want Reddit to Give Up Personal Info of Darknet Market Redditors |url=https://gizmodo.com/feds-want-reddit-to-give-up-personal-info-of-darknet-ma-1694608548 |access-date=19 May 2015 |archive-date=25 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150525014921/http://gizmodo.com/feds-want-reddit-to-give-up-personal-info-of-darknet-ma-1694608548 |url-status=live }}</ref> which has been the subject of legal investigation, as well as the Tor-based discussion forum, The Hub. On March 21, 2018, Reddit administrators shut down the popular subreddit /r/DarkNetMarkets citing new changes to their content policy that forbids the sale of "Drugs, including alcohol and tobacco, or any controlled substances".<ref name="Reddit Announcements">{{Cite news |date=2018-03-21 |title=New addition to site-wide rules regarding the use of Reddit to conduct transactions |work=News |publisher=Reddit |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/863xcj/new_addition_to_sitewide_rules_regarding_the_use/ |access-date=2018-03-22 |archive-date=2018-03-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180323024522/https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/863xcj/new_addition_to_sitewide_rules_regarding_the_use/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="DarkNetMarkets Shut Down">{{Cite news |date=2018-03-21 |title=/r/DarkNetMarkets shut down by Reddit |work=News |publisher=Reddit |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/btc/comments/865gt2/rdarknetmarkets_shut_down_by_reddit/ |access-date=2018-03-22 |archive-date=2018-04-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180401023351/https://www.reddit.com/r/btc/comments/865gt2/rdarknetmarkets_shut_down_by_reddit/ |url-status=live }}</ref> This led to the rise of Dread, the dedicated darknet discussion forum<ref>{{Cite news |last=Popper |first=Nathaniel |date=11 June 2019 |title=Dark Web Drug Sellers Dodge Police Crackdowns |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/11/technology/online-dark-web-drug-markets.html |access-date=26 October 2019 |archive-date=1 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200701165029/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/11/technology/online-dark-web-drug-markets.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Kan2019">{{Cite news |last=Kan |first=Michael |date=7 May 2019 |title=Feds Seize DeepDotWeb for Taking Money From Black Market Sites |url=https://www.pcmag.com/news/368198/feds-seize-deepdotweb-for-taking-money-from-black-market-sit |access-date=7 May 2019 |archive-date=7 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190507180831/https://www.pcmag.com/news/368198/feds-seize-deepdotweb-for-taking-money-from-black-market-sit |url-status=live }}</ref> and the news site Darknetlive (since closed).
Some marketplaces maintain their own dedicated discussion forums and subreddits.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-10-28 |title=Updated: List of Dark Net Markets (Tor & I2P) |url=https://www.deepdotweb.com/2013/10/28/updated-llist-of-hidden-marketplaces-tor-i2p/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150829162445/https://www.deepdotweb.com/2013/10/28/updated-llist-of-hidden-marketplaces-tor-i2p/ |archive-date=29 August 2015 |access-date=14 November 2015 |website=DeepDotWeb}}</ref> The majority of the marketplaces are in English, but some have opened in Chinese, Russian, and Ukrainian.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Patrick Howell O'Neill |date=9 November 2015 |title=The Dark Net drug market that survived Ukraine's civil war |work=Daily Dot |url=https://www.dailydot.com/debug/psyco-ukraine-dark-net-market-dead-drop/ |access-date=22 February 2016 |archive-date=14 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200714171718/https://www.dailydot.com/debug/psyco-ukraine-dark-net-market-dead-drop/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
The dedicated market search engine Grams (closed December 2017) allowed the searching of multiple markets directly without login or registration.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Zetter |first=Kim |date=17 April 2015 |title=New 'Google' for the Dark Web Makes Buying Dope and Guns Easy |url=https://www.wired.com/2014/04/grams-search-engine-dark-web/ |access-date=19 May 2015 |archive-date=25 July 2016 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20160725143053/https://www.wired.com/2014/04/grams-search-engine-dark-web/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
Dark web news and review sites such as the former<ref name="Kan2019"/> DeepDotWeb,<ref name="yahoo" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Franceschi-Bicchierai |first=Lorenzo |date=13 May 2015 |title=Hackers Tried To Hold a Darknet Market For a Bitcoin Ransom |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/hackers-tried-to-hold-a-darknet-market-for-a-bitcoin-ransom/ |access-date=19 May 2015 |archive-date=16 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161216050835/http://motherboard.vice.com/read/hackers-tried-to-hold-a-darknet-market-for-a-bitcoin-ransom |url-status=live }}</ref> and All Things Vice provide exclusive interviews and commentary into the dynamic markets.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Solon |first=Olivia |date=3 February 2013 |title=Police crack down on Silk Road following first drug dealer conviction |url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/02/police-crack-down-on-silk-road-following-first-drug-dealer-conviction/ |access-date=27 May 2015 |archive-date=28 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150528032024/http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/02/police-crack-down-on-silk-road-following-first-drug-dealer-conviction/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Uptime and comparison services<ref name="evo2">{{Cite news |last=Greenberg |first=Andy |date=18 September 2014 |title=The Dark Web Gets Darker With Rise of the 'Evolution' Drug Market |url=https://www.wired.com/2014/09/dark-web-evolution/ |access-date=24 May 2015 |archive-date=15 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150515084600/http://www.wired.com/2014/09/dark-web-evolution |url-status=live }}</ref> provide sources of information about active markets as well as suspected scams and law enforcement activity. Due to the decentralized nature of these markets, phishing and scam sites are often maliciously or accidentally referenced.<ref name="phishing">{{Cite news |last=DeepDotWeb |date=3 July 2015 |title=Beware of Phishing Scams On Clearnet Sites! (darknetmarkets.org) |url=https://www.deepdotweb.com/2015/07/03/beware-of-phishing-scams-on-clearnet-sites-darknetmarkets-org/ |url-status=dead |access-date=4 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160222003543/https://www.deepdotweb.com/2015/07/03/beware-of-phishing-scams-on-clearnet-sites-darknetmarkets-org/ |archive-date=22 February 2016}}</ref>
After discovering the location of a market, a user must register on the site, sometimes with a referral link, after which they can browse listings. A further PIN may be required to perform transactions, better protecting users against login credential compromise.<ref name="dic" />
=== Customer interactions === [[File:Silk road payment.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.25|Flowchart of The Silk Road's payment system, produced as evidence in the trial of its owner]] Transactions typically use Bitcoin<ref name="guardian" /> for payment, sometimes combined with tumblers<ref>{{Cite news |last=Galt |first=John |date=26 April 2015 |title=Deciphering Dark Net Market Terminology |url=http://www.coinbuzz.com/2015/05/01/deciphering-dark-net-market-terminology/ |access-date=26 May 2015 |archive-date=27 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150527034913/http://www.coinbuzz.com/2015/05/01/deciphering-dark-net-market-terminology/ |url-status=live }}</ref> for added anonymity and PGP to secure communications between buyers and vendors from being stored on the site itself.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Spotz |first=Kenny |date=16 July 2014 |title=What I've Learned as an Internet Drug Dealer |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/what-ive-learned-as-an-internet-drug-dealer/ |access-date=10 October 2015 |archive-date=17 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017091959/http://motherboard.vice.com/read/what-ive-learned-as-an-internet-drug-dealer |url-status=live }}</ref> Many sites use Bitcoin multisig transactions to improve security and reduce dependency on the site's escrow. The discontinued Helix Bitcoin tumbler offered direct anonymized marketplace payment integrations.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Deepdotweb |date=August 5, 2014 |title=Helix Updates: Integrated Markets Can Now Helix Your BTC |url=http://www.deepdotweb.com/2014/08/05/helix-updates-integrated-markets-can-now-helix-your-btc/ |url-status=dead |access-date=30 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150530225152/http://www.deepdotweb.com/2014/08/05/helix-updates-integrated-markets-can-now-helix-your-btc/ |archive-date=30 May 2015}}</ref>
On making a purchase, the buyer must transfer cryptocurrency into the site's escrow, after which a vendor dispatches their goods then claims the payment from the site. On receipt or non-receipt of the item users may leave feedback against the vendor's account. Buyers may "finalize early" (FE), releasing funds from escrow to the vendor prior to receiving their goods in order to expedite a transaction, but leave themselves vulnerable to fraud if they choose to do so.<ref name="dic">{{Cite web |last=DeepDotWeb |date=2014-03-02 |title=DeepDotWeb's DarkNet Dictionary Project! |url=https://www.deepdotweb.com/2014/03/02/deepdotwebs-darknet-dictionary/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150702015904/https://www.deepdotweb.com/2014/03/02/deepdotwebs-darknet-dictionary/ |archive-date=2 July 2015 |access-date=4 July 2015}}</ref>
Following Operation Onymous, there was a substantial increase in PGP support from vendors, with PGP use on two marketplaces near 90%. This suggests that law enforcement responses to cryptomarkets result in continued security innovations, thereby making markets more resilient to undercover law enforcement efforts.<ref name="pgp">{{Cite journal |last=Aldridge |first=Judith |year=2017 |title=Delivery dilemmas: How drug cryptomarket users identify and seek to reduce their risk of detection by law enforcement |journal=International Journal of Drug Policy |volume=41 |pages=101–109 |doi=10.1016/j.drugpo.2016.10.010 |pmid=28089207 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
=== Market types === Items on a typical centralized darknet market are listed from a range of vendors in an eBay-like marketplace format.<ref name="deepdotweb.com">{{Cite web |last=DeepDotWeb |date=2013-10-28 |title=Updated: List of Dark Net Markets (Tor & I2P) |url=http://www.deepdotweb.com/2013/10/28/updated-llist-of-hidden-marketplaces-tor-i2p/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150520175224/http://www.deepdotweb.com/2013/10/28/updated-llist-of-hidden-marketplaces-tor-i2p/ |archive-date=2015-05-20 |access-date=2015-05-17 |website=DeepDotWeb }}</ref> Virtually all such markets have advanced reputation, search and shipping features similar to Amazon.com.<ref name="jane" />
By 2015, some of the most popular vendors had their own dedicated online shops separate from the large marketplaces.<ref>{{Cite web |last=DeepDotWeb |title=Vendor Shops |url=http://www.deepdotweb.com/marketplace-directory/categories/vendor-shops |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150407183720/http://www.deepdotweb.com/marketplace-directory/categories/vendor-shops |archive-date=7 April 2015 |access-date=31 May 2015}}</ref> Individual sites had returned to operating on the clearnet, with mixed success.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cox |first=Joseph |date=18 August 2015 |title=Some Brazen Drug Marketplaces Are Operating on the Normal Web |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/some-brazen-drug-sites-are-now-operating-on-the-normal-web/ |access-date=19 August 2015 |archive-date=19 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150819163804/http://motherboard.vice.com/read/some-brazen-drug-sites-are-now-operating-on-the-normal-web |url-status=live }}</ref>
Some criminal internet forums such as the defunct Tor Carding Forum<ref>{{Cite news |last=Krebs |first=Brian |date=14 December 2014 |title=Alleged Counterfeiter "Willy Clock" Arrested |url=http://krebsonsecurity.com/2014/12/alleged-counterfeiter-willy-clock-arrested/ |access-date=5 July 2015 |archive-date=6 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150706060112/http://krebsonsecurity.com/2014/12/alleged-counterfeiter-willy-clock-arrested/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and the Russian Anonymous Marketplace function as markets with trusted members providing escrow services, and users engaging in off-forum messaging.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Greenberg |first=Andy |date=14 November 2014 |title=How a Russian Dark Web Drug Market Outlived the Silk Road (And Silk Road 2) |url=https://www.wired.com/2014/11/oldest-drug-market-is-russian/ |access-date=4 July 2015 |archive-date=5 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150705124213/http://www.wired.com/2014/11/oldest-drug-market-is-russian/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In May 2014 the "Deepify" service attempted to automate the process of setting up markets with a SAAS solution;<ref>{{Cite news |last=Patrick Howell O'Neill |date=4 March 2014 |title=I made my own Deep Web black market, and it took just 60 seconds |url=http://www.dailydot.com/business/deepify-make-your-own-deep-web-black-market/ |access-date=6 December 2015 |archive-date=5 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305014747/http://www.dailydot.com/business/deepify-make-your-own-deep-web-black-market/ |url-status=live }}</ref> however, this closed a short time later.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Deepify Directory |url=https://www.deepdotweb.com/marketplace-directory/listing/deepify-directory/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304131815/https://www.deepdotweb.com/marketplace-directory/listing/deepify-directory/ |archive-date=4 March 2016 |access-date=6 December 2015}}</ref>
Following repeated problems associated with centralized infrastructure, a number of decentralized marketplace software alternatives were set up using blockchain or peer-to-peer technologies, including OpenBazaar<ref name="blog.openbazaar.org" /> and Bitmarkets,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Power |first=Mike |date=11 December 2014 |title=Bitmarkets: the app for selling anything to anyone in complete privacy |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/dec/11/bitmarkets-app-selling-privacy-bitcoin-encrypted-ebay |access-date=4 July 2015 |archive-date=5 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150705092018/http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/dec/11/bitmarkets-app-selling-privacy-bitcoin-encrypted-ebay |url-status=live }}</ref>
== Vendors == To list on a market, a vendor may have undergone an application process via referral, proof of reputation from another market or given a cash deposit to the market.<ref name="deepdotweb.com" />
Many vendors list their wares on multiple markets, ensuring they retain their reputation even should a single market place close. Grams (closed December 2017) had launched "InfoDesk" to allow central content and identity management for vendors as well as PGP key distribution.<ref>{{Cite news |last=DeepDotWeb |date=17 May 2014 |title=A Sneak Peek To Grams Search Engine "Stage 2: Infodesk" |url=https://www.deepdotweb.com/2014/05/17/a-sneak-peek-to-grams-search-engine-stage-2-infodesk/ |url-status=dead |access-date=8 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151116202016/https://www.deepdotweb.com/2014/05/17/a-sneak-peek-to-grams-search-engine-stage-2-infodesk/ |archive-date=16 November 2015}}</ref><ref name="pgp" />
Meanwhile, individual law enforcement operations regularly investigate and arrest individual vendors<ref>{{Cite news |last=J Martin |first=Alexander |date=24 July 2015 |title=Global drug-dealing cyber crime web was centred on ... Aberdovey |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/07/24/aberdovey_man_wins_two_years_worth_of_her_majestys_hospitality_for_444_darknet_drug_deals/ |access-date=8 August 2015 |archive-date=7 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150807202807/http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/07/24/aberdovey_man_wins_two_years_worth_of_her_majestys_hospitality_for_444_darknet_drug_deals/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and those purchasing significant quantities for personal use.<ref>{{Cite news |date=21 May 2016 |title=Busted: Drug trade routed through Dark Web, Bitcoin |work=Gloucestershire Echo |url=https://www.deccanherald.com/city/bengaluru-crime/busted-drug-trade-routed-through-dark-web-bitcoin-781119.html |url-status=live |access-date=28 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200625215555/https://www.deccanherald.com/city/bengaluru-crime/busted-drug-trade-routed-through-dark-web-bitcoin-781119.html |archive-date=25 June 2020}}</ref>
A February 2016 report suggested that a quarter of all DNM purchases were for resale.<ref name="febEMCDDA" />
== Products == [[File:Evolution vendor category relationships.png|thumbnail|right|An analysis of the defunct Evolution marketplace shows the different types of products and vendors on a market.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Compton |first=Ryan |title=Darknet Market Basket Analysis |url=http://ryancompton.net/2015/03/24/darknet-market-basket-analysis/ |access-date=29 June 2015 |website=ryancompton.net |date=24 March 2015 |archive-date=30 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150630045319/http://ryancompton.net/2015/03/24/darknet-market-basket-analysis/ |url-status=live }}</ref>]]
=== Drugs === {{See also|Illegal drug trade|Online illicit drug vendor}}
Whilst a great many products are sold, drugs dominate the numbers of listings, with the drugs including cannabis, MDMA, modafinil,<ref name="C">{{Cite journal |last1=Normann |first1=Claus |last2=Berger, Mathias |date=November 2008 |title=Neuroenhancement: status quo and perspectives |url=https://www.gwern.net/docs/modafinil/2008-norman.pdf |journal=European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience |volume=258 |pages=110–114 |doi=10.1007/s00406-008-5022-2 |pmid=18985306 |s2cid=9733191 |access-date=2017-01-08 |archive-date=2019-11-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191121221922/https://www.gwern.net/docs/modafinil/2008-norman.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Woolf |first=Nicky |date=31 May 2015 |title=Silk Road sentencing: why governments can't win the war on darknet drugs |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/may/31/silk-road-sentencing-darknet-drugs |access-date=30 December 2016 |archive-date=13 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190413203321/https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/may/31/silk-road-sentencing-darknet-drugs |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Valette |first=Jean-Jacques |title=Du commerce illicite à la liberté d'expression totale, on a plongé dans le darknet |url=http://www.wedemain.fr/Du-commerce-illicite-a-la-liberte-d-expression-totale-on-a-plonge-dans-le-darknet_a2140.html |access-date=30 December 2016 |publisher=We Demain |archive-date=30 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161230231712/http://www.wedemain.fr/Du-commerce-illicite-a-la-liberte-d-expression-totale-on-a-plonge-dans-le-darknet_a2140.html |url-status=live }}</ref> LSD, cocaine, and designer drugs.
===Personal information=== Personally identifying information, financial information like credit card and bank account information, and medical data from medical data breaches is bought and sold, mostly in darknet markets but also in other black markets.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Holt |first1=Thomas J. |title=Data thieves in action : examining the international market for stolen personal information |last2=Smirnova |first2=Olga |last3=Chua |first3=Yi-Ting |date=2016 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-1-137-58904-0}}</ref> People increase the value of the stolen data by aggregating it with publicly available data, and sell it again for a profit, increasing the damage that can be done to the people whose data was stolen.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rossi |first=Ben |date=8 July 2015 |title=The ripple effect of identity theft: What happens to my data once it's stolen? |work=Information Age |url=https://www.information-age.com/ripple-effect-identity-theft-what-happens-my-data-once-its-stolen-123459795/ |access-date=28 October 2018 |archive-date=29 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200829121142/https://www.information-age.com/ripple-effect-identity-theft-what-happens-my-data-once-its-stolen-123459795/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
=== Fraud and hacking services ===
{{main|Carding (fraud)}} Cyber crime and hacking services for financial institutions and banks have also been offered over the dark web.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=The Dark Net: Policing the Internet's Underworld. |journal=World Policy Journal |volume=32}}</ref> Markets such as AlphaBay Market have hosted a significant share of the commercial fraud market, featuring carding, counterfeiting and many related services.<ref>{{Cite news |last=G |first=Joshua |date=20 April 2015 |title=Interview With AlphaBay Market Admin |url=https://www.deepdotweb.com/2015/04/20/interview-with-alphabay-admin/ |url-status=dead |access-date=21 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150429075743/http://www.deepdotweb.com/2015/04/20/interview-with-alphabay-admin |archive-date=29 April 2015}}</ref> Loyalty card information is also sold as it is easy to launder.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hall |first=Kat |date=16 December 2015 |title=At least 10 major loyalty card schemes compromised in industry-wide scam |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/12/16/major_loyalty_card_schemes_compromised_scam/ |access-date=16 December 2015 |archive-date=16 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151216194225/http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/12/16/major_loyalty_card_schemes_compromised_scam/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
=== Prohibitions and restrictions === Many markets refuse to list weapons<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cox |first=Joseph |date=9 July 2015 |title=The Dark Web's Biggest Market Is Going to Stop Selling Guns |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-dark-webs-biggest-market-is-going-to-stop-selling-guns/ |access-date=26 July 2015 |archive-date=25 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150725185133/http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-dark-webs-biggest-market-is-going-to-stop-selling-guns |url-status=live }}</ref> or poisons.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cox |first=Joseph |date=July 21, 2015 |title=The Crackdown on the Dark Web Poison Trade |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-crackdown-on-the-dark-web-poison-trade/ |access-date=26 July 2015 |archive-date=24 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150724162743/http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-crackdown-on-the-dark-web-poison-trade |url-status=live }}</ref> Markets such as the original Silk Road would refuse to list anything where the "purpose is to harm or defraud, such as stolen credit cards, assassinations, and weapons of mass destruction".<ref name="one">{{Cite news |last=Gayathri |first=Amrutha |date=11 June 2011 |title=From marijuana to LSD, now illegal drugs delivered on your doorstep |work=International Business Times |url=http://www.ibtimes.com/marijuana-lsd-now-illegal-drugs-delivered-your-doorstep-290021 |access-date=13 April 2013 |archive-date=23 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130523065649/http://www.ibtimes.com/marijuana-lsd-now-illegal-drugs-delivered-your-doorstep-290021 |url-status=live }}</ref>
Later markets such as Evolution ban "child pornography, services related to murder/assassination/terrorism, prostitution, Ponzi schemes, and lotteries", but allow the wholesaling of credit card data.<ref name="evo" />
The market in firearms appears to attract extra attention from law enforcement,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Leyden |first=John |date=11 September 2015 |title='Walter Mitty' IT manager admits to buying gun on dark web |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/09/11/dark_web_gun_purchase_bust/ |access-date=11 September 2015 |archive-date=11 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150911202747/http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/09/11/dark_web_gun_purchase_bust/ |url-status=live }}</ref> as does the selling of other weapons such as certain types of knives and blades.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cox |first=Joseph |date=22 September 2016 |title=A Survey of the Dark Web Knife Trade |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/a-survey-of-the-dark-web-knife-trade/ |access-date=23 September 2015 |archive-date=24 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924103116/http://motherboard.vice.com/read/a-survey-of-the-dark-web-knife-trade |url-status=live }}</ref>
== Market operations == Nachash, former proprietor of Doxbin, wrote a guide in early 2015 entitled ''So, You Want To Be a Darknet Drug Lord ...''<ref>{{Cite news |last=DeepDotWeb |date=15 April 2015 |title=So, You Want To Be a Darknet Drug Lord ... |url=https://www.deepdotweb.com/2015/04/15/so-you-want-to-be-a-darknet-drug-lord/ |url-status=dead |access-date=21 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151019034721/https://www.deepdotweb.com/2015/04/15/so-you-want-to-be-a-darknet-drug-lord/ |archive-date=19 October 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=Spring 2015 |title=2600 |url=https://2600-magazine.myshopify.com/products/spring-2015 |access-date=21 September 2015 |archive-date=3 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151003021005/http://2600-magazine.myshopify.com/products/spring-2015 |url-status=live }}</ref>
Background research tasks included learning from past drug lords, researching legal matters, studying law enforcement agency tactics and obtaining legal representation. With regards to the prospective market's hosting, he recommends identifying a hosting country with gaps in their mutual legal assistance treaty with one's country of residence, avoiding overpriced bulletproof hosting and choosing a web host with Tor support that accepts suitably hard-to-trace payment. Patterns recommended to avoid include hiring hitmen like Dread Pirate Roberts, and sharing handles for software questions on sites like Stack Exchange.
He advises on running a secured server operating system with a server-side transparent Tor proxy server,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Transparently Routing Traffic Through Tor |url=https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/doc/TransparentProxy |access-date=21 September 2015 |archive-date=19 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919080424/https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/doc/TransparentProxy |url-status=live }}</ref> hardening web application configurations, Tor-based server administration, automated server configuration management rebuild and secure destruction with frequent server relocation rather than a darknet managed hosting service.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Darknet Solutions |url=https://darknetsolutions.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180323154655/https://darknetsolutions.com/ |archive-date=23 March 2018 |access-date=30 May 2015 |website=darknetsolutions.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Patrick Howell O'Neill |date=4 August 2013 |title=An in-depth guide to Freedom Hosting, the engine of the Dark Net |url=http://www.dailydot.com/news/eric-marques-tor-freedom-hosting-child-porn-arrest/ |access-date=30 May 2015 |archive-date=30 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150430183059/http://www.dailydot.com/news/eric-marques-tor-freedom-hosting-child-porn-arrest/ |url-status=live }}</ref> To protect against guard node deanonymization he recommends obfuscating traffic by investing in Tor relays which the market site will exclusively use.
For a local machine configuration, he recommends a computer purchased for cash running Linux, using a local Tor transparent proxy. For operations security he suggests avoiding storing conversation logs, varying writing styles, avoiding mobile phone-based tracking and leaking false personal details to further obfuscate one's identity. Use of OTR and PGP are recommended.
He recommends verifying market employees carefully, and to weed out law enforcement infiltration through barium meal tests.
Law enforcement and intelligence agencies have expanded investigations of dark web markets,<ref>{{Cite news |date=Spring 2019 |title=Easttom, C. (2019). Conducting Dark Web Investigations |url=https://www.jinfowar.com/journal/volume-17-issue-4/conducting-investigations-dark-web |access-date=21 April 2019 |archive-date=25 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425212144/https://www.jinfowar.com/journal/volume-17-issue-4/conducting-investigations-dark-web |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=Spring 2019 |title=Interpol Dark Web Training |url=https://darkwebnews.com/news/interpol-dark-web-training-course/ |url-status=dead |access-date=25 April 2019 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20160428194934/https://darkwebnews.com/news/interpol-dark-web-training-course/ |archive-date=2016-04-28}}</ref>
== Fraudulent markets == A large number of services pretend to be a legitimate vendor shop, or marketplace of some kind in order to defraud people. These include the notoriously unreliable gun stores,{{citation needed|date=November 2019}} or even fake assassination websites.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cox |first=Joseph |date=18 May 2016 |title=This Fake Hitman Site Is the Most Elaborate, Twisted Dark Web Scam Yet |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/this-fake-hitman-site-is-the-most-elaborate-twisted-dark-web-scam-yet/ |access-date=20 May 2016 |archive-date=18 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118065529/http://motherboard.vice.com/read/this-fake-hitman-site-is-the-most-elaborate-twisted-dark-web-scam-yet |url-status=live }}</ref>
== Exit scams == thumb|Graphical illustration of the life-cycle of vendors<ref name="reputation" /> Centralized market escrow allows a market to close down and "exit" with the buyer's and vendor's cryptocurrency at any time. This has happened on several occasions such as with BlackBank,<ref name="blackbank" /> Evolution,<ref name="evo" /> and Wall Street Market.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Staff and agencies |date=3 May 2019 |title=German police shut down one of world's biggest dark web sites |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/03/german-police-close-down-dark-web-marketplace |access-date=4 November 2020 |archive-date=7 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201107234644/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/03/german-police-close-down-dark-web-marketplace |url-status=live }}</ref>
Individual vendors often reach a point of reputation maturity whereby they have sold sufficient product reliably to have gained a significant reputation and accumulated escrowed funds; many may choose to exit with the funds rather than compete at the higher-volume higher-priced matured product level.<ref name="reputation">{{Cite journal |last=Janetos |first=Nick |date=January 2017 |title=Reputation Dynamics in a Market for Illicit Drugs |url=https://economics.sas.upenn.edu/sites/economics.sas.upenn.edu/files/reputation-dynamics_0.pdf |url-status=dead |volume=1703 |page=18 |arxiv=1703.01937 |bibcode=2017arXiv170301937J |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170203081617/https://economics.sas.upenn.edu/sites/economics.sas.upenn.edu/files/reputation-dynamics_0.pdf |archive-date=3 February 2017 |access-date=2 February 2017}}</ref><ref name="vice">{{Cite web |date=2015-02-04 |title=The 'Exit Scam' Is the Darknet's Perfect Crime |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/darknet-slang-watch-exit-scam/ |website=Motherboard |access-date=2017-02-02 |archive-date=2017-01-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170106235010/http://motherboard.vice.com/read/darknet-slang-watch-exit-scam |url-status=live }}</ref>
== Commentary ==
In December 2014, an exhibition by Carmen Weisskopf and Domagoj Smoljo entitled "The Darknet: From Memes to Onionland" explored Darknet culture. This featured a bot called the "Random Darknet Shopper" which spent $100 in BTC per week on products listed on Agora.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Pangburn |first=DJ |date=13 January 2015 |title=The Best Things a Random Bot Bought on the Dark Net |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-best-things-a-random-bot-bought-on-the-darknet/ |access-date=26 May 2015 |archive-date=26 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150526214448/http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-best-things-a-random-bot-bought-on-the-darknet |url-status=live }}</ref> Their aim was to explore the ethical and philosophical implications of these markets, which, despite high-profile internationally co-ordinated raids, persist and flourish.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Power |first=Mike |date=5 December 2014 |title=What happens when a software bot goes on a darknet shopping spree? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/dec/05/software-bot-darknet-shopping-spree-random-shopper |access-date=26 May 2015 |archive-date=26 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150526212424/http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/dec/05/software-bot-darknet-shopping-spree-random-shopper |url-status=live }}</ref>
James Martin's 2014 book ''Drugs on the Dark Net: How Cryptomarkets are Transforming the Global Trade in Illicit Drugs'' discusses some vendors who are even branding their opium or cocaine as "fair trade", "organic" or sourced from conflict-free zones.<ref name="palgrave.com">{{Cite web |last=Martin |first=James |title=Drugs on the Dark Net: How Cryptomarkets are Transforming the Global Trade in Illicit Drugs |url=http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/drugs-on-the-dark-net-james-martin/?isb=9781137399045 |access-date=8 Aug 2015 |archive-date=11 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150911052717/http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/drugs-on-the-dark-net-james-martin/?isb=9781137399045 |url-status=live }}</ref> In June 2015 journalist Jamie Bartlett gave a TED talk about the state of the darknet market ecosystem as it stood at the time.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bartlett |first=Jamie |date=June 2015 |title=Jamie Bartlett: How the mysterious dark net is going mainstream |url=https://www.ted.com/talks/jamie_bartlett_how_the_mysterious_dark_net_is_going_mainstream |access-date=3 September 2015 |archive-date=4 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904044745/http://www.ted.com/talks/jamie_bartlett_how_the_mysterious_dark_net_is_going_mainstream |url-status=live }}</ref>
According to 2014 studies by Martin<ref name="crj.sagepub.com">{{Cite journal |last=Martin |first=James |year=2014 |title=Lost on the Silk Road: Online drug distribution and the "cryptomarket" |journal=Criminology & Criminal Justice |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=351–367 |doi=10.1177/1748895813505234 |s2cid=145000314}}</ref><ref name="palgrave.com" /> Aldridge & Décary-Hétu<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Aldridge |first1=Judith |last2=Décary-Hétu |first2=David |date=2014-05-13 |title=Not an 'Ebay for Drugs': The Cryptomarket 'Silk Road' as a Paradigm Shifting Criminal Innovation |doi=10.2139/ssrn.2436643 |ssrn=2436643 |url=https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/api/datastream?publicationPid=uk-ac-man-scw:253395&datastreamId=FULL-TEXT.PDF |access-date=2024-01-10 |archive-date=2022-10-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221030160306/https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/api/datastream?publicationPid=uk-ac-man-scw:253395&datastreamId=FULL-TEXT.PDF |url-status=live }}</ref> and a January 2015 report from the Global Drug Policy Observatory, many harm reduction trends have been spotted. These include the reduced risks associated with street dealing such as being offered hard drugs. The vendor feedback system provides accountability for risks of mixing and side effects and protection against scammers. Online forum communities provide information about safe drug use in an environment where users can anonymously ask questions. Some users report the online element having a moderating effect on their consumption due to the increased lead time ordering from the sites compared to street dealing.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Buxton |first1=Julia |last2=Bingham |first2=Tim |title=The Rise and Challenge of Dark Net Drug Markets |url=http://www.swansea.ac.uk/media/The%20Rise%20and%20Challenge%20of%20Dark%20Net%20Drug%20Markets.pdf |access-date=31 May 2015 |website=www.swansea.ac.uk |archive-date=10 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190310012808/https://www.swansea.ac.uk/media/The%20Rise%20and%20Challenge%20of%20Dark%20Net%20Drug%20Markets.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Professor for addiction research Heino Stöver notes that the shops can be seen as a political statement, advancing drug legalization "from below".<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Dworschak |first1=Manfred |last2=Winter |first2=Steffen |date=2015 |title=Der Prinz des Darknet |url=http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-138148048.html |journal=Der Spiegel |issue=34 |access-date=18 August 2016 |archive-date=18 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818012707/http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-138148048.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The results of these markets are higher quality and lower prices of psychoactive substances as well as a lower risk of violent incidents.<ref name="orf1">{{Cite web |title=Drogen im Darknet |url=http://fm4.orf.at/stories/1768362/ |access-date=18 August 2016 |archive-date=24 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160924233547/http://fm4.orf.at/stories/1768362/ |url-status=live }}</ref> A number of studies suggest that markets such as Silk Road may have helped users reduce the harm caused by illicit drug use, particularly compared with street-based drug marketplaces. Examples include the sale of high-quality products with low risk for contamination (including lacing and cutting), vendor-tested products, sharing of trip reports, and online discussion of harm reduction practices. Some health professionals such as "DoctorX" provide information, advice and drug-testing services on the darknet.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The internet and drug markets |url=http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/system/files/publications/2155/TDXD16001ENN_FINAL.pdf |access-date=18 August 2016 |publisher=European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction |archive-date=3 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160803211919/http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/system/files/publications/2155/TDXD16001ENN_FINAL.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> The quality of products is attributed to the competition and transparency of darknet markets<ref name=orf1/> which involve user feedback and reputation features.
Europol reported in December 2014, "We have lately seen a large amount of physical crime move online, at least the 'marketing' and delivery part of the business ... [Buyers can] get the illegal commodity delivered risk-free to a place of their choice by the mailman or a courier, or maybe by drone in the future, and can pay with virtual currency and in full anonymity, without the police being able to identify either the buyer or the seller."<ref name="jane">{{Cite news |last=IHS Jane's Intelligence Review |date=30 December 2014 |title=Law enforcement struggles to control darknet |url=http://www.janes.com/article/47455/law-enforcement-struggles-to-control-darknet |access-date=6 July 2015 |archive-date=17 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150917074919/http://www.janes.com/article/47455/law-enforcement-struggles-to-control-darknet |url-status=live }}</ref>
In June 2015 the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) produced a report citing difficulties controlling virtual market places via darknet markets, social media and mobile apps.<ref>{{Cite news |date=June 2015 |title=Drug supply and the market |url=http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/edr/trends-developments/2015/online/chapter1 |access-date=8 August 2015 |archive-date=6 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161106062017/http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/edr/trends-developments/2015/online/chapter1 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In August 2015 it was announced that Interpol now offers a dedicated Dark Web training program featuring technical information on Tor and cybersecurity and simulated darknet market takedowns.
In October 2015 the UK's National Crime Agency and GCHQ announced the formation of a "Joint Operations Cell" to focus on cybercrime.{{citation needed|date=November 2019}} In November 2015 this team would be tasked with tackling child exploitation on the dark web as well as other cybercrime.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Box |first=Joseph |date=8 November 2015 |title=The UK Will Police the Dark Web with a New Task Force |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-uk-will-police-the-dark-web-with-a-new-task-force/ |access-date=9 November 2015 |archive-date=10 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151110192004/http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-uk-will-police-the-dark-web-with-a-new-task-force |url-status=live }}</ref>
In February 2015, the EMCDDA produced another report citing the increased importance of customer service and reputation management in the marketplace, the reduced risk of violence and increased product purity. It estimated a quarter of all purchases were for resale and that the trend towards decentralization meant they are unlikely to be eliminated any time soon.<ref name="febEMCDDA">{{Cite news |last=Gayle |first=Damien |date=11 February 2016 |title=Online market 'is turning drug dealers from goons to geeks' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/11/online-market-turning-drug-dealers-goons-geeks-darknet |access-date=13 February 2016 |archive-date=12 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160212083418/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/11/online-market-turning-drug-dealers-goons-geeks-darknet |url-status=live }}</ref>
A June 2016 report from the Global Drug Survey described how the markets are increasing in popularity, despite ongoing law enforcement action and scams. Other findings include consumers making purchases via friends operating Tor browser and Bitcoin payments, rather than directly. Access to markets in 79% of respondents' cases led to users trying a new type of drug.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cox |first=Joseph |date=14 June 2016 |title=More People Than Ever Say They Get Their Drugs on the Dark Web |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/more-people-than-ever-say-they-get-their-drugs-on-the-dark-web/ |access-date=15 June 2016 |archive-date=15 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160615115119/http://motherboard.vice.com/read/more-people-than-ever-say-they-get-their-drugs-on-the-dark-web |url-status=live }}</ref>
A 2017 study focused on a geographical analysis of trafficking on a darknet market. Researchers contended that previous studies have demonstrated variations in the types of substances available in different countries. These variations can be attributed to factors like geographic isolation, strict border controls, lenient laws on illegal items, high prices, tight internet control, and the general accessibility of illegal goods.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Broséus |first=Julian |last2=Rhumorbarbe |first2=Damien |last3=Morelato |first3=Marie |last4=Staehli |first4=Ludovic |last5=Rossy |first5=Quentin |date=2017-08-01 |title=A geographical analysis of trafficking on a popular darknet market |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0379073817302037 |journal=Forensic Science International |volume=277 |pages=88–102 |doi=10.1016/j.forsciint.2017.05.021 |issn=0379-0738 |access-date=2023-12-15 |archive-date=2024-02-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240228234610/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0379073817302037 |url-status=live }}</ref>
== Size of listings == The size of the darknet markets economy can be problematic to estimate. A study based on a combination of listing scrapes and feedback to estimate sales volume by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University captured some of the best data. A reviewed 2013 analysis put the Silk Road grossing $300,000 a day, extrapolating to over $100 million over a year. Subsequent data from later markets has significant gaps as well as complexities associated with analysing multiple marketplaces.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kyle Soska and Nicolas Christin |date=13 August 2015 |title=Measuring the Longitudinal Evolution of the Online Anonymous Marketplace Ecosystem |url=https://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/nicolasc/publications/SC-USENIXSec15.pdf |access-date=9 June 2016 |journal= |archive-date=4 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604090727/https://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/nicolasc/publications/SC-USENIXSec15.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> * 18,174 – October 2013, Digital Citizens Alliance,<ref name="double" /> 13,472 of which were on Silk Road in November 2013<ref name="guardian" /> * 41,207 – April 2014 Digital Citizens Alliance<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Digital Citizens Alliance |title=BUSTED, BUT NOT BROKEN, THE STATE OF SILK ROAD AND THE DARKNET MARKETPLACES |url=https://media.gractions.com/314A5A5A9ABBBBC5E3BD824CF47C46EF4B9D3A76/5f8d4168-c36a-4f78-b048-f5d48b18dc0a.pdf |page=22 |access-date=25 May 2015 |author1-link=Digital Citizens Alliance |journal= |archive-date=9 February 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150209145349/https://media.gractions.com/314A5A5A9ABBBBC5E3BD824CF47C46EF4B9D3A76/5f8d4168-c36a-4f78-b048-f5d48b18dc0a.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> * 33,985 – May 2014 The Guardian via Reddit<ref name="guardian2">{{Cite news |last=Power |first=Mike |date=30 May 2014 |title=Life after Silk Road: how the darknet drugs market is booming |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/may/30/life-after-silk-road-how-the-darknet-drugs-market-is-booming |access-date=25 May 2015 |archive-date=30 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150530194818/http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/may/30/life-after-silk-road-how-the-darknet-drugs-market-is-booming |url-status=live }}</ref> * 43,175 – July 2014 a report by the BBC<ref name="double">{{Cite news |last=Crawford |first=Angus |date=31 July 2014 |title=Dark net drugs adverts 'double in less than a year' |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-28242662 |access-date=24 May 2015 |archive-date=25 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925200402/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-28242662 |url-status=live }}</ref> * 65,595 – August 2014 Digital Citizens Alliance<ref>{{Cite web |title=Darknet-August 2014 |url=http://www.digitalcitizensalliance.org/cac/alliance/content.aspx?page=Darknetaugust |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150525144123/http://www.digitalcitizensalliance.org/cac/alliance/content.aspx?page=Darknetaugust |archive-date=25 May 2015 |access-date=25 May 2015 |website=Digital Citizens Alliance}}</ref> * 51,755 – December 2014 Digital Citizens Alliance<ref>{{Cite web |title=Darknet Marketplace Watch – Monitoring Sales of Illegal Drugs on the Darknet |url=http://www.digitalcitizensalliance.org/cac/alliance/content.aspx?page=Darknetq42014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150525143158/http://www.digitalcitizensalliance.org/cac/alliance/content.aspx?page=Darknetq42014 |archive-date=25 May 2015 |access-date=25 May 2015 |website=Digital Citizens Alliance}}</ref> * 68,835 – March 2015 (before Evolution scam), Digital Citizens Alliance<ref name="dca">{{Cite web |title=Darknet Marketplace Watch – Monitoring Sales of Illegal Drugs on the Darknet (Q1) |url=http://www.digitalcitizensalliance.org/cac/alliance/content.aspx?page=Darknet |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150612052452/http://www.digitalcitizensalliance.org/cac/alliance/content.aspx?page=Darknet |archive-date=12 June 2015 |access-date=25 May 2015 |website=Digital Citizens Alliance}}</ref> * 68,322 – April 2015 (after Evolution scam)<ref name="dca" />
{{ #invoke:Chart | bar chart | width = 500 | height = 400 | group 1 = 13:13.6:12.3:0:0:0 <!-- SR --> | group 2 = 3.6:0:0:0:0:0 <!-- BMR --> | group 3 = 1.4:0:0:0:0:0 <!-- Sheep --> | group 4 = 0.2:0:0:0:0:0 <!-- DeepBay --> | group 5 = 0:7.4:12.1:13.7:14.6:16.8 <!-- Agora --> | group 6 = 0:5.2:5.3:0:0:0 <!-- Pandora --> | group 7 = 0:2.6:7.2:12.1:19.9:0 <!-- Evolution --> | group 8 = 0:0:0:0.8:0:0 <!-- TOM --> | group 9 = 0:0:0:0.5:0:0 <!-- ME --> | group 10 = 0:0:0:0:3.2:8.2 <!-- Nucleus --> | group 11 = 0:0:0:0:0.8:0 <!-- Abraxas --> | group 12 = 0:0:0:0:0:5.6 <!-- BB --> | group 13 = 0:0:0:0:0:2.6 <!-- AlphaBay --> | group 14 = 0:3.2:10:1.1:3.4:10.4 <!-- Others --> | colors = Silver:Gray:Black:Red:Maroon:Yellow:Olive:Lime:Green:Aqua:Teal:Blue:Navy:Fuchsia | group names = Silk Road : Black Market Reloaded : Sheep : DeepBay : Agora : Pandora : Evolution : TOM : Middle Earth : Nucleus : Abraxas : Black Bank : Alpha Bay : Others | x legends = October 2013: April 2014 : August 2014 : November 2014 : March 2015 : April 2015 | units suffix = -thousand listings | stack = 1 }}Digital Citizens Alliance<ref>{{Cite news |date=29 May 2015 |title=Silk Road successors |newspaper=The Economist |url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2015/05/daily-chart-13 |access-date=31 May 2015 |archive-date=31 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150531000625/http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2015/05/daily-chart-13 |url-status=live }}</ref>
== In fiction == In the episode "eps2.3_logic-b0mb.hc" (ep. 5 of season 2) of the drama–thriller television series, ''Mr. Robot'', the protagonist, Elliot, is supposed to be repairing a Tor hidden site which turns out to be a darknet market called "Midland City" styled after the Silk Road for the sale of guns, sex trafficked women, rocket launchers, drugs and hitmen for hire.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Varmazis |first=Maria |date=2016-08-04 |title=Mr. Robot eps2.3logic-b0mb.hc – the security review |url=https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2016/08/04/mr-robot-eps2-3logic-b0mb-hc-the-security-review/ |access-date=6 August 2016 |archive-date=2016-08-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160805211958/https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2016/08/04/mr-robot-eps2-3logic-b0mb-hc-the-security-review/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Jensen |first=Jeff |title=Mr. Robot recap: 'eps2.3logic-b0mb.hc' |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |url=https://www.ew.com/recap/mr-robot-season-2-episode-5 |access-date=6 August 2016 |archive-date=6 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160806012045/http://www.ew.com/recap/mr-robot-season-2-episode-5 |url-status=live }}</ref>
In the 2016 movie ''Nerve'' starring Emma Roberts and Dave Franco, the dark web plays a major role.
In ''Grand Theft Auto Online'', players who purchase warehouses and garages for illicit cargo and stolen cars can buy/steal and sell them through trade on the "SecuroServ" syndicate website. After the ''Biker DLC'', players can now purchase buildings for illegal drugs and counterfeit products manufacture, and distribute them through a darknet website called "The Open Road" where law enforcement cannot be notified of the player's trade.
In the first arc of the anime series ''Lupin the 3rd Part V'', Lupin III steals digital currency from the "Marco Polo" darknet market.
== See also == *Cyber-arms industry *Deep Web (film) *Drug liberalization *List of Tor hidden services *Russian darknet market conflict
== References == {{reflist|30em}}
{{Tor hidden services}} {{Cryptocurrencies}}
Category:Darknet markets Category:Cyberpunk themes Category:Illegal drug trade Category:Crypto-anarchism