Following the collapse of Hydra Market final year, darknet drug markets proceed to bounce again and adapt. Megan Townsend explores the present state of play in 2023...

The times of the Silk Road and Dread Pirate Roberts may be behind us, but darknet drug markets seem like as prevalent as ever. With the collapse of the Russian Hydra market in 2022, we explore the state of darknet drug markets in 2023.

What's the darknet and the way does it work?

The Internet Iceberg

For those less conversant in the workings of the darknet and its various marketplaces, allow me to elucidate…

When you picture the web when it comes to an iceberg, then the surface net, where we are proper now, would kind the tip of that iceberg. Accounting for simply 4% of your entire internet, the floor internet is the portion with which individuals are most acquainted. The floor web encompasses the components of the web which might be accessible by way of search engines, resembling google. However, many don’t realise that the online extends far previous this.

One step below the floor web is the deep internet. This part of the net isn’t accessible by traditional search engines like google, and so isn’t picked up by net crawlers. To entry pages and knowledge throughout the deep net, customers require the correct authorisation and credentials.

However, just because a webpage exists in the deep net doesn’t mean it’s harmful. Loads of harmless gadgets exist within this layer, reminiscent of unpublished blog posts, archived news stories and articles with paywalls.

Below the deep web is the darknet (or darkish net), which is even tougher to entry because of its unsearchable, encrypted and personal nature which affords users full anonymity.

The darknet does have some respectable uses including personal communication and the defending of confidential sources. Despite this, the darknet is probably better known for its internet hosting of drug marketplaces, such as the Silk Road, black markets and cyber assault companies to name just a few. Its very design makes the darknet a hotspot for criminal activity, and so this has develop into synonymous with this section of the online.

The Onion Router (TOR)

As it’s inaccessible via the floor internet, customers require a software identified as the Onion Router (or TOR) to get to the darknet. Originally created by the US Government, TOR is an anonymising browser that enables customers to enter the darknet and blocks their identity. Adding to this layer of security and anonymity is the usage of cryptocurrency to make transactions on the darknet.

Darknet drug markets

Perhaps some of the well-recognized features of the darknet is its internet hosting of massive-scale drug markets. This was no extra seen than with the rise of the Silk Road marketplace in the early 2010s. Founded by Ross Ulbricht (aka Dread Pirate Roberts), the Silk Road sold a large variety of items, but was an infamous drug market - with medicine accounting for 70% of the medication bought in spring 2013. At its height, Silk Road was estimated to be price $34.5m. Silk Road was finally shut down by the FBI in October 2013, following the arrest of Ross Ulbricht.

More recently, 2022 saw the fall of one other distinguished darknet name. Launched in 2015, the Russian market, Hydra Market, was known for its commerce in medicine among other things. The Hydra Market grew to grow to be considered one of the biggest marketplaces on the darknet, accounting for round 80% of darknet exercise and amassing 19,000 vendor accounts and 17 million prospects. In terms of drug sales, Hydra Market grew to become the biggest narcotic market amongst the previous countries of the USSR. Hydra Market met an identical demise to the Silk Road when it was shut down by German police in April 2022.

The state of play in 2023

Following the demise of Hydra Market in 2022, dozens of recent darknet markets emerged - a quantity of these being darknet drug markets which focused former Hydra prospects and vendors.

Based on research from various security sources, a variety of markets reared their heads as key players after Hydra’s shut down, every taking it in turn to lead the market. By the tip of its first month in operation, OMG! OMG! Market had already gained round $12.15 million in sales. Much like Hydra Market, various Russian darknet markets have risen up the rankings, the largest of which seems to be mega darknet market Market, which received $40m in March alone. That is followed by Blacksprut, with around $20m.

As encryption, anonymity and privacy are central to the design of the darknet and its varied drug markets, up-to-date info on drug tendencies is troublesome to come by. Analysis from the World Drug Report 2023 means that while the common purchaser is spending more on drug transactions (rising from $100 per transaction in 2018 to $500 in 2021), the number of active buyers and transactions have notably decreased.

Interestingly, the rise of social media as an emerging drug market has additionally impacted purchasing traits. Self-reported information means that social media platforms have change into favourable for low-level transactions of cannabis, ecstasy and cocaine, whereas new psychoactive substances are nonetheless sold to a higher degree through the darknet.

Relating to who darknet drug markets sell to, there also seems to have been a change of tack. For most marketplaces, the traditional buyer has in the end been the tip person of the product bought - however, specialists counsel that darknet drug markets are starting to shift in direction of wholesale. The decline within the number of lively markets, members and transactions, contrasted with an increase in total darknet gross sales and common transactions indicates that vendors could as a substitute be promoting to drug distributors, or might have widened their array of products and services.

To this point, 2023 has presented darknet drug markets with a number of challenges - nonetheless, their capability to bounce back regardless of these clearly shows they won’t be going wherever anytime quickly. The rise of social media for ‘low-level’ drug transactions suggests that darknet drug markets will continue to adapt their response, specializing in wholesale drug distributors, moderately than the top shopper.

This piece was written by Volteface Content and Media Officer Megan Townsend. She is particularly interested within the reform of drug laws, subcultural drug use and hurt discount initiatives. She also has an MA in Criminology from Birmingham City University. Tweets @megant2799.