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Comparison of darknet markets
Template:Proofread A darknet market is a website operating in a darknet (e.g., Freenet, I2P, TOR) and in which goods and services (usually drugs) are traded. The legal status of the traded goods depends varies from country to country. The purpose of this comparison is to keep an overview about the constantly changing phenomenon of darknet markets. The comparison in durability, success and security shall enable people to evaluate markets and make independent decisions before using them.
According to their major features and design at least five archetypes of marketplaces can be distinguished.
- Forum Markets. These are basicly forums where vendors present their products, customers posting feedback and a community is discussing. These markets neither have an online shopping like interface nor a reputation or esrcow system. Trusted members of the community may act as escrow agents.
- Centralized Markets. The original "Silkroad" was the first of this kind. Buyers and vendors have their bitcoins on an online wallet which is controlled by the markets admin and therefore rely totally on the good will of the markets admins. Several big scams happened in the past in which millions of $ were stolen.
- Multi-Signature Markets. In this markets funds will be deposited in a multi-signature wallet. At least three parties (usually:buyer, vendor, market admin) have the control over these wallets. Two of them have to agree to release the funds. The most elaborated marketplace of this kind was "The Marketplace". Second generation marketplace could not get some serious market share yet.
- Decentralized Markets. There are some projects which are currently developing software to host drug marketplaces in a distributed manner. Only Bitmarkets is fully functional, but none have yet been adopted by the darknet market community.
- Beside that a some vendors maintain their own single vendor webshop. These won’t be listed here because they are too numerous and there is high rate of scams.[1]
All markets are hosted either as Tor Hidden Services (Onion Sites), i2p sites (eepsites) or another kind of p2p or darknet. Therefor they can not be accessed with a normal webrowser. The technical aspects of using a darknet market are discussed in the article Darknet marketplace usage tutorial.
Forum markets
These website are based on ordinary forum software. There is no cart, wallet or escrow provided. Transactions happen between vendor and customer directly most of the times.
| Name, Adress | Date of Opening | Registration | Incidents | notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| French Market Place (http://fmp75d2wcfom3opr.onion) |
? | ? | ? | french |
| The Majestic Garden (http://themgpeuawtfvbzi.onion/) Forum (http://bm26rwk32m7u7rec.onion/) |
? | Open | No | TMG is focused on psychedelics and empathogens. |
| RAMP (Russian Anonymous MarketPlace) (http://ramp2bombkadwvgz.onion) |
? | Open | ? | russian |
Centralized markets
All these markets have a certain concept in common. There is a staff team which is maintaining a website as an onion or eepsite in TOR or I2P. They offer all the features to vendors and buyers. They take some % of every transaction as commission for their own profit and often take a bond of vendors to prevent scammers off signin up. Their definite trait is that the admin has the absolute power over the users funds.
| Name, Adress, Forum, Subreddit | Date of Opening | # of listings | Registration | 2-Factor-Authentification | Java Script | PGP | Incidents | Cryptocoins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abraxas (http://abraxasdegupusel.onion/) Forum (http://abraxasgacelesox.onion/) Subreddit (/r/AbraxasMarket) |
2014-12-13 | ~5100 |
Invite Only | No | No | No | No | BTC, DASH |
| Dream Market ( ) Forum (http://tmskhzavkycdupbr.onion/) Subreddit (?) |
2013-11-15 | ~6500 | Open | Yes | No | No (optional auto-encryption but site discourages users to use it for all communication) | No | BTC |
| Middle Earth (http://mango7u3rivtwxy7.onion/) Forum (http://mango7u3rivtwxy7.onion/talks/) Subreddit - |
2014-06-22 | ~4300 | Open | Yes | optional | No | No | BTC |
| Nucleus Market http://nucleuspf3izq7o6.onion/ Forum http://z34uj4opd3tejafn.onion/ Subreddit /r/NucleusMarket |
2014-10-24 | ~15000 | Open | Yes | No | No | No | BTC, DASH, LTC |
Explanations:
| Criterion | Explanation |
|---|---|
| 2-Factor-Authentification | With 2-factor authentification you need to decrypt a with your private PGP key. This feature avoids successful phishing of your name and password. |
| Java Script | Some people consider Javascript a security risk. Some sites force you to turn it off before entering their site. |
| PGP | Is the use of PGP encryption obligatory in private messages? Writing unencrypted messages may expose personal details to the market admins and law enforcement agencies. |
| Incidents | Bitcoins disappeared? Team members busted? Page hacked? Did anything happened what undermines the credibility and professionalism of the people who run the marketplace? |
Multi-signature markets
| Name, Adress, Forum, Subreddit | Date of Opening | # of listings | Registration | 2-Factor-Authentification | Java Script | PGP | Security Incidents |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alphabay (http://pwoah7foa6au2pul.onion) Forum (http://pwoah7foa6au2pul.onion/forum/) Subreddit (/r/Alphabay) |
2014-12-22 | ~40000 | Open | Yes | No | No | No |
| East India Company[2] (http://http://g4c35ipwiutqccly.onion/) Forum (built in) Subreddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/EastIndiaCo /r/EastIndiaCo]) |
2015-04-28 | ~1900 (grouped listings) | Open | Yes | No | No | yes[3] |
| Outlaw Market (http://outfor6jwcztwbpd.onion/) Forum http://outforumbpapnpqr.onion Subreddit - |
2014-02-04 | ~960 | Open | Yes | No | auto-ecryption | yes[4] |
| Valhalla (http://valhallaxmn3fydu.onion) Forum http://outforumbpapnpqr.onion Subreddit - |
2013-10 | ~2300 | Open | Yes | yes | No | No |
Decentralized markets
Decentralized markets are running on a distributed filesharing-like software. A middlemen who is taking it’s cut is not needed anymore. The following table lists software projects which are in the development right now. Unless a projects reached the "stable" development status all features are to be considered as "announced" or "planned".
| Name, Website, Sourcecode | development status | hosting | anonymizing routing | cryptocurrencies | encrypted messaging | build-in wallet | anonymous transaction | notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Axis Mundi (https://six-pack.github.io/Axis-Mundi) |
Active (0.0.9) | P2P/trustless brokers | Tor and i2p | Bitcoin | Yes (PGP) | Not yet | Yes | Written specifically to address the DNM environment. FE with feedback and full MS escrow options for purchases. |
| Bitmarkets (https://voluntary.net/bitmarkets/) (https://github.com/voluntarynet/Bitmarkets) |
beta | P2P | TOR | Bitcoin | yes (Bitmessage) | yes | yes | Uses two party escrow so no trusted third parties or escrow agents are needed. |
| Nxt (http://104.236.98.130:4568/) (https://bitbucket.org/JeanLucPicard/nxt/src) |
stable? (1.5.12) | Blockchain, Proof of Stake, (Nxt) | TOR (optional) | Nxt (+ more) | yes | yes | ? | The marketplace is integrated in the Nxt wallet. |
| Nxt Freemarket (http://104.236.98.130:4568/) (https://bitbucket.org/blackyblack/freemarket/ CLOSED SOURCE) |
stable? (1.4) | Blockchain, Proof of Stake, (Nxt) | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Nxt Freemarket is an application which builds on Nxt and provides another marketplace interface using the nxt blockchain. |
| Openmarket (http://104.236.98.130:4568/) (https://github.com/openmarket/openmarket) |
alpha (dead?) | P2P | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Open Bazaar (https://openbazaar.org/) (https://github.com/OpenBazaar/OpenBazaar) |
Stable (1.1.7) | P2P (UDP) | no | Bitcoin | yes (GnuPG) | ? | ? | ? |
| Shadow Market (http://aboutshadow.com/) (https://github.com/SDCDev/shadowcoin) |
pre-alpha | Blockchain, Proof of Stake, (Shadowcash) | through I2P and TOR[5] | Shadowcash | yes | yes | yes[6] | ? |
| Syscoin (https://syscoin.org/) (https://github.com/syscoin/syscoin) |
beta | Blockchain, Proof of Work, (Syscoin) | ? | Syscoin | yes | yes | ? | ? |
Further reading
General
- A dictionary of often used terms about the darknet.
- Subreddit for all Darknet Markets
- "Grams" - Darknet Market search engine, Bitcoin mixer, Vendor directory
- The Hub - General darknet market forum
- "The Kingdom Forums" - General darknet market forum
Lists of darknet markets
- List and comparison of darknet markets by Deep Dot Web
- Comparison of current and dead darknet markets maintained by gwern.net
- Comparison of darknet markets by dnstats.net
- "Superlist" of darknet markets maintained by the moderators of /r/DarkNetMarkets
- Wall of Shame List of markets to avoid according to the moderatos of /r/DarkNetMarkets
Vendor directories and reviews
- "All Markets Vendor Directory" - A Directory for Darknet Vendors
- "The Darknet Feedback Database" - Search by pgp key and known username. Includes the feedback database of the now offline BlackMarketReloaded.
- "Grams" - Darknet Market search engine, Bitcoin mixer, Vendor directory
References
- ↑ Some vendor shops are listed here: https://www.deepdotweb.com/marketplace-directory/categories/vendor-shops.
- ↑ EU only market
- ↑ https://www.deepdotweb.com/2015/08/09/east-india-market-hacked-30-btc-gone//
- ↑ http://www.deepdotweb.com/2014/08/01/outlaw-market-down-possibily-compromised/
- ↑ "Q&A". Retrieved 12 June 2015.
- ↑ "Shadowsend". Retrieved 12 June 2015.