Darknet Markets

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About

Darknet Markets, also known as cryptomarkets, are websites hosted on the deep web which can only be acessed through anonymous web browsers like the TOR.

History

In the 1970s, students at Stanford University illegally purchased cannabis using an early version of the internet called ARPANET, marking the first use of an online network to obtain narcotics.^[1] In 2006, the Farmer's Market online marketplace was launched, which was moved on to the TOR network in 2010. In 2012, the site closed after its operators were arrested by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration as part of Operation Adam Bomb. On April 30th, 2014, the Cyber Secrets YouTube channel uploaded a video titled "Navigating the Underground Darknet Black Markets and Tor Hidden Services" (shown below, left). On October 28th, 2016, YouTuber AVI LSD uploaded a video on how to buy from darknet markets like AlphaBay (shown below, right).

Notable Sites

Silk Road

Silk Road was an online black market which could only be accessed via The Onion Router (TOR) anonymous web browsing client. On the site, goods are sold in exchange for Bitcoins, a peer-to-peer digital crypto-currency created by Satoshi Nakamoto. Many of the sellers specialized in selling drugs, often times shipping to countries where they are illegal to possess.

AlphaBay

AlphaBay was a darknet market on the TOR network originally launched in December 2014, which gained much online notoriety as a place to buy illicit drugs. By October the following year, the site was ranked the largest online darknet market by Digital Citizens Alliance research director Dan Palumbo.^[3] On the site, users could customize digital contracts, place funds into escrow and make transactions using the cryptocurrencies Bitcoin and Monero. In July 2017, the site was shut down along with the Hansa online marketplace as part of the multinational law enforcement campaign Operation Bayonet. Meanwhile, the site's 25-year-old founder Alexandre Cazes was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand, where he subsequently committed suicide in prison according to Thai authorities.

/r/DarkNetMarkets

The /r/DarkNetMarkets^[2] subreddit is a forum for discussions about darknet marketplaces and vendors. Originally launched on October 16th, 2013, the subreddit gathered more than 146,000 subscribers over the next four years.