Top 5 Biggest Darknet Markets in History
Top 5 Biggest Darknet Markets in History
Silk Road, founded in 2011 by Ross Ulbricht, was the first online darknet market. The dark web marketplace was once described as “the internet’s Wild West and the eBay of vice”. It was a haven for document forgers, gun runners, and drug dealers. Although Silk Road was only active for a little over two years, it kickstarted the black market on the dark web.
Since the emergence of Silk Road eight years ago, the concept of darknet markets has remained the same. A darknet marketplace is a commercial platform found on the dark web where individuals can buy and sell products such as drugs, stolen credit cards, weapons, and cyber-arms, among other illicit goods, anonymously.
Following the model created by Silk Road, present-day darknet marketplaces are still characterized by their use of unidentified access, bitcoin payment with escrow services, and encrypted feedback systems.
Silk road
AlphaBay
AlphaBay darknet market
With Silk Road closed and its founder arrested, many thought there would never be another darknet market like it. That wasn’t the case, however, when AlphaBay came into the picture. The AlphaBay marketplace was launched in December 2014 and was one of the biggest dark web drug marketplaces before it was shut down in July 2017.
Wall Street Market
Wall Street Market
The Wall Street Market was considered the second-largest darknet market globally. The onion website was used to sell illegal products and services. Two weeks before the shutdown of Wall Street Market, the site’s administrators reportedly made away with $14.2 million worth of digital currencies from the accounts of their vendors and users in what is referred to as an exit scam.
Hansa
Hansa dark web marketplace
FBI [Public domain] – Seizure notice placed on Hansa market website by the authorities
After AlphaBay was shut down, the buyers and vendors of illegal products went looking for other darknet markets that could allow them to continue their illegal trade. Hansa was one of the alternatives that users moved to and it started seeing an increase in the number of users after AlphaBay went under. In fact, the Dutch police reported that the site saw an increase in the number of daily visitors which grew from 1,000 to 8,000.
Dream Market
Dream Market
Dream shut down in April 2019 happened under unclear circumstances. Dream informed its users about the shutdown by informing them when it would happen. While commerce halted, users were still able to access their accounts and withdraw funds.
The Rise
Since it was operated under a hidden service, users were able to anonymously and securely browse the website without their traffic being monitored. Communication on the site was encrypted and anonymous and transactions were conducted using bitcoin.
Although Silk Road was launched in February of 2011, its development had started six months earlier. Initially, this dark web market offered a restricted number of new seller accounts. That meant that new sellers had to buy a new account during an auction. Eventually, Silk Road started charging a fee for every new seller account. Before it was closed by the FBI in 2013, Silk Road reportedly had registered 900,000 users and generated over $1.2 billion in sales.
The Fall
Silk Road was shut down in October 2013 and its operator, Ulbricht, was arrested, which marked the end of Silk Road. It is believed the FBI infiltrated Silk Road and flipped most of Ulbricht’s close associates. They also used the identities of the associates to unravel Silk Road, which eventually led to the discovery of Ulbricht. He was convicted of eight different charges linked to Silk Road and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The Fall
AlphaBay grew to be ten times the size of Silk Road by July of 2017. The site had more than 369,000 listings and was processing about $600,000 – $800,000 daily transactions. AlphaBay’s demise was a result of operational security errors.
The founder, Alexandre Cazes – then 25 years of age and a Canadian citizen – was arrested in Thailand on July 5, 2017. Cazes would, later on, die while in custody in Thailand. The Justice Department in Thailand said he took his own life. Cazes had several charges against him such as identity theft, narcotics distribution, and money laundering, among others.
