A new study from The Ohio State University finds that on “darknet” drug markets (accessible only through anonymity-protecting software such as Tor) the most important thing for buyers is finding sellers in whom they can place their confidence. In 2025, darknet marketplaces primarily accept Monero (XMR) and Bitcoin (BTC). Privacy-focused operators are shifting to Monero due to its default anonymity, compared to Bitcoin’s transparent ledger Darknet markets see BTC inflow drop to $2B.
Indiana Jones And The Great Circle DLC Scales Difficulty Based On How Much You’ve Played
Why are these markets still seen as enticing places to sell drugs, despite the risks? To find out, our recent study surveyed 13 darknet drug vendors, via online encrypted interviews. These markets host hundreds, or in some cases thousands, of people who sell drugs, commonly referred to as “vendors”.
Law Enforcement Action Had Little Effect On Supply And Prices
Even after Silk Road went down, dark web marketplaces haven’t slowed down. Stopping their growth takes serious effort from US agencies like the FBI, often working hand-in-hand with international law enforcement. From there, these products are then passed on to distributors, which are the dark web marketplaces in this context. On these marketplaces, they’re listed, sold, and promoted just like items on any e-commerce site. Just like on the regular internet, phishing is a big problem on the dark web as well.
This section elaborates on the methodology used to identify opioid trading information in the anonymous market and forums. Specifically, we collected approximately 248,359 unique listings and 1,138,961 unique forum traces (ie, threads of posts) from 10 anonymous online marketplaces and 6 forums. We then identified 311 opioid keywords and jargons to recognize 28,106 listings and 13,508 forum traces related to underground opioid trading activities. Finally, we used natural language processing techniques to extract opioid trading information to characterize underground opioid commodities, suppliers, and transactions.
Another possibility would be to contact cryptomarket administrators when information contained in listing descriptions of new substances are erroneous and/or misleading potentially leading to adverse consequences for users. This is particularly true in the case of “synthetic heroin,” where buyers are almost completely unaware of what they are purchasing. This paper seeks to complement current studies widening the understanding of opioid supply chains in underground marketplaces using comprehensive, large-scale, longitudinal anonymous marketplace and forum data. To this end, we propose a series of techniques to collect data; identify opioid jargon terms used in the anonymous marketplaces and forums; and profile the opioid commodities, suppliers, and transactions. Specifically, we first conducted a whole-site crawl of anonymous online marketplaces and forums to solicit data.
Top Darknet Markets 2025
Finally, in the model refining stage, the model is trained for other 2 iterations using the same objective function. We manually investigated the results by randomly sampling 10% of data records during each iteration and adding false positive samples into the unlabeled set. The review detection model yielded a mean precision of 81.5% and an average recall of 80.1%, whereas for the promotion detection model, it yielded a mean precision of 88.1% and an average recall of 85.1% (Table 4). This not only helps protect your identity but also contributes to your overall cybersecurity in the digital age. By adopting a few straightforward rules and habits, you can make it more difficult for hackers to access your data and remove yourself from their line of sight. Unfortunately, the increasing availability of personal information on the Dark Web results in lower costs—and consequently, a higher likelihood—that your accounts will be compromised.
It is one of the first studies to describe and quantify the types, amounts, available weights, prices and shipment origins and destination of fentanyl, fentanyl analogs and other novel synthetic opioid products sold on the darknet. Fentanyl, fentanyl analogs, “synthetic heroin” and other novel synthetic opioid substances represent only 3.3% of all opioid listings advertised on DreamMarket from March 2018 to January 2019. Although novel synthetic opioids constitute a small fraction of the overall illicit opioid market on the darknet, the potency of these opioids make the amount needed for one dose smaller compared to other opioids (Pardo et al., 2019). It also decreases the quantity needed to be sent by mail, lowering the chance for shipment to be detected and seized by customs or law enforcement agents (Baum, 2017; O’Connor, 2017).
Empire Market
After perusing the items available on the anonymous online market (step 5), the buyer will add opioids to their shopping cart (step 6). When the buyer wants to check out and make a purchase using cryptocurrency (eg, Bitcoin), if the trader accepts payment through an anonymous online marketplace as an escrow, the buyer will place the listed amount of cryptocurrency in escrow (step 7). Otherwise, the buyer will pay the trader directly using cryptocurrency or any other payment method accepted by the trader (step 9) 7. Note that the escrow mechanism is widely deployed in the anonymous online market because it helps to build trust and resolve disputes between sellers and buyers. When the purchase is made, the opioid trader ships the purchased item to the buyer (step 10).
2 Availability Of Novel Synthetic Opioids
The Administrators of Solaris also highlighted strong connection to KillNet responsible for multiple DDOS attacks against the U.S., NATO and various EU-based government resources – who may assist Solaris in fighting against their competitors and enemies. The marketplace has a well-established team including Administrator (Professor), Vice-Administrator(-s), Cybersecurity Team, Customer Support, and multiple moderators. The roles and responsibilities of the operators are like Hydra however look more advanced. For example, there are at least 3 operators responsible for the security of the project, as well as over 15 moderators.
Some of them even masked their products and removed all public descriptions, so only vetted customers could see what they are selling. The arrest of Telegram’s founder, Pavel Durov, in August 2024 triggered a notable shift in the operational dynamics of the platform’s drug vendors. This incident also marked the never-before-seen attempt of its administrator, Pharoah (arrested in May 2024 and revealed to be 23 year-old Taiwanese national Rui-Siang Lin), to extort the marketplace’s users.
5 Shipment Origins By Wholesale And Retail Level Amounts
We did not include such analyses due to the time and scope constraints, and it is a topic that we plan to investigate further. Our goal here was to identify anonymous forum posts with the topics of opioid commodity promotion (eg, listing promotion) and review (eg, report fake opioid vendors). We then analyzed these forum posts to profile underground opioid trading behaviors.
Known for its publicity stunt releasing millions of stolen card details for free, BidenCash specializes in credit card fraud and identity theft. This article reveals the top 10 dark web markets dominating in 2025, their unique characteristics, and the critical implications for enterprise cybersecurity. One could end up with their details being used to open accounts on various pornographic websites or cryptocurrency trading sites. Criminals can use this data to impersonate people on the internet and even open online accounts in their names. The main reason why people purchase these accounts is to access content that is not available on their own accounts. The hacked accounts may belong to a country that has a larger selection of streaming sites than their own.
In comparison, heroin was identified in 55.2% (52,510/95,011) of all opioid-related listings, and there were 1,945 heroin-related listings per each crawl, on average. Behrouz Parsarad (Parsarad), residing in Iran, was the sole administrator of Nemesis. In this capacity, Parsarad established Nemesis and held full control over the marketplace and its virtual currency wallets.
- The key 10 marketplaces outlined in this report will continue to keep fighting for market monopolization.
- Since 2020, 2easy has sold massive stealer logs with sensitive data like passwords, bank cards, and initial access credentials.
- Unfortunately, there is neither neutral nor complete information in medical sources on how this drug is spread and what harm it brings to the communities.
- OFAC’s Economic Sanctions Enforcement Guidelines provide more information regarding OFAC’s enforcement of U.S. sanctions, including the factors that OFAC generally considers when determining an appropriate response to an apparent violation.
- DRIP) takes dividends earned by investors in ironclad darknet market a company and automatically reinvests them into more stocks of that company, often at a discounted rate.
- A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is designed to disrupt access to websites and other internet resources.
In addition, there were an average of 2,495 non-pharmaceutical oxycodone pills pressed with fentanyl available for purchase at each time point when data were collected. The information about the amount of fentanyl added to these pills was specified only by one vendor, in a total of 7 listings (out of 123), and was equal to 150μg. Today’s action, taken pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 14059, which targets proliferators of narcotics and their means of production, underscores the United States’ commitment to combatting all means of supplying narcotics to the United States. Treasury remains focused on the risks posed by darknet marketplaces, as highlighted in previous designations of Genesis Market on April 5, 2023, and of Hydra Market on April 5, 2022. And the fragmentation of illicit markets, particularly in drug sales, signals a shift toward decentralization — with criminal enterprises moving away from traditional darknet marketplaces toward more agile and resilient platforms.
The second category consists of data stores, which specialize in stolen information. As of 2020, nearly 57% of the dark web was estimated to contain illegal content, including violence and extremist platforms. Telegram channels supplement traditional onion sites, blurring lines between the dark web sites and more mainstream communication tools. In 2023, the dark web attracted an average of 2.7 million daily users, with Germany now leading as the country with the highest number of Tor users, surpassing the United States for the first time in years.
