In light of this, we have chosen the parameters conservatively, obtaining estimates for the number of sellers that are in general smaller than the ones produced by other methods. Second, our approach does not explicitly classify buyers, which are entities that were not classified as sellers. There is a gray zone in which some sellers and buyers may not be easily distinguishable in transaction networks. For instance, there may be sellers that make a small amount of transactions, or spend more than receive, which we would classify as buyers. Nevertheless, it is important to stress that the results are robust under considerable variation of the parameters, indicating that the coherent picture emerging from our analysis does not depend on the details of the method.
Cybercrime Services
However, it’s also used for illegal activities like drug trafficking, weapon sales, and stolen data trading. Law enforcement agencies monitor it for criminal activities, but legitimate users rely on it for privacy protection. Darknets and dark markets have propelled the growth of cybercrime by offering a platform for the sale and exchange of malicious tools and services. Cybercriminals use these platforms to traffic in stolen data, execute targeted ransomware attacks, and collaborate on advanced hacking techniques. Nation-state actors, too, leverage darknets for espionage and cyber warfare, capitalizing on the obscurity and untraceability they provide.
- Premium private cryptors are gaining traction, emphasizing the shift toward exclusive malware solutions.
- It is one of the most active and up to date markets and always provides new and updated malware and data.
- The dark web hosts a wide range of sites — from whistleblower tools and secure email platforms to underground forums, black markets, and dark web mirrors of legitimate news outlets.
- We developed Lunar to monitor the deep and dark web, including dark web marketplace sites.
Dark Web Market Revenues Rebound but Sector Fragments
The most affected are multisellers, with a drop of 78% in the median income, followed by market-U2U and market-only sellers, with a drop of 59% and 47%, respectively. Although these three types of sellers are significantly affected, they recover and surpass the median income value they had before Bayonet (see Fig. 4c; Supplementary Information Section S4). Our classification shows that the number of sellers is significantly smaller than the number of buyers, as shown in Figs. The number of actors in the ecosystem is affected by several factors, especially market closures.
Escrow Dominance
We recommend using NordVPN as it offers top-notch security features, including dark web threat protection. This guide outlines different ways of safely accessing dark web stores and the list of reliable dark web marketplaces you can consider visiting today for research and monitoring purposes. Its listings center on cryptocurrency cash-out services, value-conversion schemes, and identity packs used to open fraudulent accounts. DOJ cases confirm that criminals often purchase stolen card data from darknet shops such as Brian’s Club and then re-encode it onto physical cards for fraudulent transactions. This places the market squarely within verified financial-crime supply chains. Chainalysis data shows darknet marketplace revenue dropped post-Hydra seizure in 2022 but recovered to $2 billion in Bitcoin inflows during 2024 Darknet market BTC inflow drop and shift to Monero.
Family Location Tracker App Life360 Breach: 443,000 Users’ Data Leaked
The chart above shows that, while values haven’t risen back to 2021 levels, darknet market revenue has slightly rebounded since Hydra’s closure in 2022. STYX market features a robust verification process, making it look more exclusive. The platform supports Monero (XMR), Bitcoin (BTC), and several others to hide identities. The fact that there are no real regulations as well as authorities to monitor transactions, you’re always on your own, and you’re a potential target and victim of a scam or fraud. The dark web is famous when it comes to hosting as well as spreading explicit and illegal content.
Prioritize Escrow
Your definitive guide to the top darknet marketplaces of 2025—featuring verified onion routing links, cryptocurrency trading insights, vendor ratings, and escrow security details. Dive into the dark pool trading world with Abacus, Alphabay, Torrez, and more. In total, there were 2,158 vendors who advertised at least one of the 96,672 product listings across the 30 marketplaces.
Dark Markets Darknet Market Links in 2026
It sells stolen card data — dumps, CVVs, even wholesale batches — and lets users bid on fresh leaks. Despite multiple takedown efforts by law enforcement and security researchers, Brian’s Club has resurfaced repeatedly and continues to add new stolen credit card data. Another key aspect of this evolution is the rise of darknet market lists, which serve as directories for users to identify reliable platforms. These lists are regularly updated to reflect the latest trends, ensuring that traders can access the most secure and innovative markets.
Beyond Bug Bounties: How Private Researchers Are Taking Down Ransomware Operations
That said, the social network’s data collection and tracking practices may seem at odds with many of the principles motivating dark web users. Concerns about how Meta treats user data have led many people to delete their Facebook profiles or at least limit their social media presence. Unfortunately, many dark web websites are devoted to the illegal trade of leaked personal information. If you’ve ever experienced an uptick in phishing attacks and spam after a data leak or breach, it may be because your personal information has been posted to the dark web. Onion sites, or dark web websites, are sites on the dark web that can typically only be accessed using special software like the Tor browser. These sites use “.onion” domains, which are made up of random letters and numbers up to 56 characters long.
How Do Dark Web Marketplaces Typically Operate?
Also, it should be common knowledge not to share personal information online. Latest updates from the darknet trading world as of February 2025—key shifts and developments. One, casual drug buyers are shifting away from the darknet to make their purchases, while larger buyers are simply buying more per purchase.
Platform Control
As of 2023, Searchlight Cyber estimated roughly 6,000 listings and ~300 vendors, and attributes admin handles such as “quasar1,” “BlackMask,” and “zamman.” Treat those figures as directional; hidden‑service data shifts quickly. Using a dark web search engine is a great step towards enjoying a more secure experience while shopping on the platform. Not all marketplaces you want to visit can be accessed through regular search engines. In addition, mainstream search engines also track your searches and collect personal information. Don’t ever reveal your true identity on the dark web marketplaces because there’s a high chance of hackers and scammers misusing it.
Russia Blacklists Crypto Exchange WhiteBIT Over Ukraine Support
By definition, users that interact among themselves form U2U transactions. If the pair of users interact with multiple DWMs these U2U transactions are included in onion links all related DWMs and counted multiple times. Therefore, the simple sum of all U2U transactions of each DWM is more than the sum of all unique U2U transactions.
Buyers and sellers
- Dark web websites won’t show up on Google, but they are indexed by dark web search engines such as Torch.
- In all panels, the dashed vertical line marks the time of operation Bayonet.
- But while anonymous email services can help protect your identity, they don’t make you immune to threats like email spoofing or social engineering.
- The dark web alert system is designed to urge you to take action before any significant harm is done.
- The report said Solaris, a platform which has since been hijacked by Kraken, had sent KillNet $50,000.
Now those trying to access Solaris are redirected to its upstart rival, Kraken. But amid the scramble for power and wealth, experts have told VICE World News that the huge profits being generated by these platforms are being fuelled by money from gangs involved in increasingly sinister crimes. Nearly half of the marketplaces launched in 2024 accepted only Monero, representing a sharp increase from just over one-third in 2023, signaling a growing preference for enhanced privacy and anti-surveillance capabilities.
Researchers Uncover “Haxor” SEO Poisoning Marketplace
To do this, we first identified 30 darknet markets advertising stolen data products. We found several thousand vendors selling tens of thousands of stolen data products on 30 darknet markets. These vendors had more than $140 million in revenue over an eight-month period. The darknet is used for anonymous communication, accessing censored information, and protecting privacy. Journalists and activists use it to communicate securely in oppressive regimes. You can access it for legitimate purposes like whistleblowing and freedom of expression.
- The analysed dataset includes about 31 million transactions among more than 16 million users.
- Moreover, we do not have information about which users trade with other users on the same DWM.
- As of 2023, Searchlight Cyber estimated roughly 6,000 listings and ~300 vendors, and attributes admin handles such as “quasar1,” “BlackMask,” and “zamman.” Treat those figures as directional; hidden‑service data shifts quickly.
- From digital goods to pharmaceuticals, these markets cater to diverse needs, all while maintaining a high standard of security and anonymity.
- The number of multisellers steeply decreases after operation Bayonet but they still sustain high incomes.
- With 25,000+ users and 3,000+ vendors, it’s the gold standard for escrow security and scale.
- Nevertheless, due to their unregulated nature, DWMs exhibit behaviours not observed in regulated marketplaces.
- Users favor marketplaces with straightforward navigation, efficient search functions, and clear product categorizations.
Cyber Threat Actors Ramp Up Attacks on Industrial Environments
Beware of sharing your financial details on the dark web, as this can result in identity theft and your bank account being compromised. It’s another dark net marketplace that grabbed a lot of attention was the Hydra market. It accepted payments through Bitcoin and the Escrow system and ensured that users’ identities remain anonymous during their purchases. Cypher marketplace has been on the list of the best dark web shops for a while and deals with the business of a variety of products and services.
Ares Market is presented in open sources as a general‑purpose marketplace with a familiar trust stack (escrow, feedback, PGP/MFA) and BTC/XMR settlement—features that align with sector norms rather than set it apart. As with any hidden service, availability, policies, and coin options can change without notice; much of what’s known is either a point‑in‑time analyst snapshot or self‑reported market copy. Flugsvamp 4.0 presents as a localized, drug‑centric market that inherited the Flugsvamp brand but not its full network effects. Scholarly analyses highlight how Swedish vendors largely migrated away from FS4 after 2021, with the 2025 Archetyp takedown again reshaping where Swedish traffic lands. As with any hidden service, features and status are fluid; third‑party tracker details should be treated as directional rather than definitive.
Edges are multihomers, i.e., traders that are simultaneously active in both markets (sellers in the multiseller network, and buyers in the multibuyer network). The width of the edges is proportional to the number of multihomers acting between the markets. Throughout the whole period of observation, the dominant category of buyers is market-U2U buyers followed by market-only buyers, representing on average 52% and 42% of all buyers, respectively. The U2U-only category is comparatively small, representing only 6% of all buyers on average. The number of market-U2U and market-only buyers also drops as a consequence of operation Bayonet.
The Evolution of Darknet Markets: Secure Trade and Technological Advancements
Launched after the takedown of AlphaBay in 2021, Abacus Market has rapidly risen to prominence. It features over 40,000 listings including narcotics, counterfeit items, hacking tools, and stolen data. The marketplace is well-known for its bug bounty programs and robust security mechanisms, including mandatory 2FA. Nemesis Market is a relatively new wallet-less shop on the dark web where you don’t need to deposit any amount in your wallet before buying products from here. The platform allows buyers to review the vendor’s products and services, so it’s easy for them to decide if the vendor is reputable or just scamming them.
Using his credentials, cybercriminals committed a variety of online fraud activity over the course of six months. In 2019, the FBI started its investigation into Genesis Market and enlisted other government agencies and law enforcement organizations across the world, working towards the market’s closure on April 4, 2023. As part of the investigation, the Dutch National Police took the lead on cybercrime prevention, and Van Well shared his insight on the sophistication of the fraud shop’s operation. Another darknet market known for facilitating fentanyl sales to the United States was Canada-based AlphaBay. A once-sizable illicit enterprise that began in 2014, AlphaBay was closed by authorities in 2017 and then reopened in 2021.
However, trading behaviour in DWM closely resembles what is observed on regulated online platforms despite their significant differences in operational and legal nature14. Nevertheless, due to their unregulated nature, DWMs exhibit behaviours not observed in regulated marketplaces. They offer anonymity to their users by using and developing specialized tools. DWMs are accessed through darknet browsers supporting the onion routing protocol (e.g., Tor), which provides anonymous communication connections35. Additionally, transactions are made with cryptocurrencies, mostly Bitcoin, which also provide anonymity to the transaction parties6,36.
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. We reviewed dark web marketplaces by analyzing publicly available cybersecurity reports, threat-intelligence research, and historical records. This approach allows evaluation without direct interaction or participation. Darknet marketplaces in 2025 illustrate a resilient and evolving underground economy. Major active platforms include Abacus, Russian Market, BriansClub, and Exodus.
Another key distinction is that access to darknet markets requires the use of special software such as the Onion Router, or TOR, which provides security and anonymity. Dark markets, on the other hand, are platforms within darknets where illicit transactions occur. These marketplaces facilitate the exchange of everything from stolen credentials and drugs to weapons and hacking tools.
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.