Skip to main content

After Empire’s Exit Scam, Darknet Market Patrons Scramble to Find Alternatives

After Empire's Exit Scam, Darknet Market Patrons Scramble to Find Alternatives

Ever since the darknet market (DNM) Empire went under, DNM patrons have been scrambling to find reliable marketplaces on the deep web. On forums, individuals are discussing which markets are safe, the logistics of how to use different DNMs, and how much they lost from Empire Market’s exit scam aftermath.

Years ago, after the infamous DNMs Alphabay and Hansa went under, Dream was the top dog for a while but it eventually bit the dust. In the fall of 2019, deep web visitors leveraged DNMs like Tochka, Apollon, Cannazon, Cryptonia, Grey Market, and Empire Market. While Empire grew massively, six months ago Apollon shuddered during the second week of February 2020. Since Apollon’s exit scam, the king of darknet markets in 2020, except for Russia’s Hydra marketplace, was Empire Market as it was considered very trustworthy.

That was up until August 22, 2020, when Empire Market went offline and many individuals cast blame at a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. Two days ago, news.Bitcoin.com reported on how a majority of people now assume that Empire Market officially exit scammed. It has also been alleged that the Empire moderators got away with $30 million in digital assets like monero (XMR) and bitcoin (BTC).

After Empire's Exit Scam, Darknet Market Patrons Scramble to Find Alternatives
The Reddit forum r/darknet is littered with posts about the Icarus marketplace.

Since the exit, DNM patrons have been discussing the subject regularly on the Reddit forum r/darknet and the underground forum Dread. There are a great number of posts discussing the marketplace Icarus, but many are complaining of trust issues. Others believe Icarus is untrustworthy, as one Reddit thread says “LOL Icarus right now… I’m so excited to lose more money.” Another person responded: “Glad I went to White House Market, seems more secure.”

After Empire's Exit Scam, Darknet Market Patrons Scramble to Find Alternatives
The marketplace Darkmarket on the invisible web is the first DNM operated by women according to Dark.fail’s recent review of existing DNMs. Photo via: Dark.fail.

On Friday afternoon, the operator of the website Dark.fail told his Twitter followers about a number of relevant DNMs that exist today. Out of the 11 DNMs Dark.fail mentioned, each one had a different trait or methods of operation. First, he mentioned Darkmarket, the first underground marketplace run by women.

“They accept Bitcoin and Monero, and run on the Eckmar marketplace script,” said Dark.fail. “I normally do not trust Eckmar markets, but this team is trusted by most major vendors. 1400 vendors, 220k users, according to their counts.”

The analyst said that Cannazon is a “cannabis-only market,” but has a friendly user guide. “White House Market is widely seen as the most secure,” the researcher continued. “PGP is required and they only use Monero. There is no hot wallet, withdrawals are processed once per day. It’s harder to use than Empire was, but many people who take OPSEC seriously vouch for it. 68k active buyers, 1700 vendors.”

After Empire's Exit Scam, Darknet Market Patrons Scramble to Find Alternatives
“Monopoly Market focuses on quality over quantity,” Dark.fail says. “They only allow the most trusted vendors in, 132 are there currently. Snazzy design, friendly tutorials, bitcoin, and monero are accepted.” Photo via: Dark.fail.

After that Dark.fail mentioned Monopoly Market, and said that the operation is dedicated to “quality over quantity.” The analyst also mentioned in the tweet that his entire Twitter thread is “not an endorsement” for any markets and the “thread is for researchers only.”

The Twitter thread further said:

Torrez is a ‘community driven’ market which accepts zcash, monero, bitcoin, and litecoin. They support multisig transactions, allowing users to avoid centralized market escrow. Multisig remains a difficult UX hurdle for most DNM users. 286 vendors, 13k customers, 200 days online.

Dark.fail also discussed Asean Market, Canada HQ, Tor Market, and the Deepsea Market. The thread ends with a summary concerning the largest DNM that stems from Russia.

“Hydra is the darknet’s longest-running cryptomarket,” Dark.fail stressed. “Don’t speak Russian? You’re out of luck. Rather than smuggling product in the mail, Hydra vendors hide their wares in secret caches in Russian cities which buyers pick up. Hydra is working to launch an English version soon.”

Similarly to a number of posts on the Reddit forum r/darknet, Dark.fail also warned people about Icarus Market.

The Twitter account said that he believes Icarus Market “will scam.” “Naive darknet users are rushing into new, unproven sites that are shilling forums like mad,” he added on Friday.

What do you think about the end of Empire Market and the great search for trustworthy DNMs? Let us know in the comments section below.

The post After Empire’s Exit Scam, Darknet Market Patrons Scramble to Find Alternatives appeared first on Bitcoin News.



from Bitcoin News https://ift.tt/3bancFP

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Deep Web Roundup: Dream Adds Monero and Bitcoin Tumbler “Chip Mixer” Launches

The darknet has been quiet of late, which is the way it’s meant to be. No news means no mega busts, honeypots, or mass market shutdowns. Even when it’s out of the spotlight though, the deep web is quietly making news, whether trialling the latest privacy coins or the newest coin mixers that promise to restore a little of the privacy that’s being stripped away from bitcoin users on a daily basis. Also read: U.S. Agency ICE Conducts Investigations That Exploit Blockchain Activity The Battle for Privacy Heats Up Privacy is all relative, but of late there’s been relatively little privacy to be enjoyed by bitcoin users. Blockchain monitoring software is becoming more sophisticated and more common, with U.S. law enforcement agencies using it to profile and hunt down deep web users. Chip Mixer is a relatively new bitcoin tumbler that’s designed to restore some of that privacy. Available on both the clearnet and darknet, the service uses a variety of techniques to obfuscate blockchain m

International Crypto Exchange Luno Adds Bitcoin Cash Trading

Luno exchange has added bitcoin cash trading to the platform following feedback from its client base. BCH is now only the third cryptocurrency available for trading on the exchange, in addition to BTC and ETH , but more options could be on the way once Luno determines that they are credible enough. Also Read: Bitflyer Adds Bitcoin Cash Trading Across Europe and the US Luno Adds Bitcoin Cash Trading Luno, the London-headquartered company formerly known as Bitx, recently announced that bitcoin cash was made available on its cryptocurrency exchange. Starting from Monday, September 23, customers at Luno are now able to store, buy and sell BCH on the platform. The reason given for adding BCH to the exchange is feedback from users in developing markets that convinced Luno to expand their offering from previously just BTC and ETH . Marcus Swanepoel, CEO of Luno, said , “We are in a new and exciting financial era. Developing economies are leading the large-scale adoption and appli

Ombudsman Receives Complaints About Crypto Investments in Spain

The Spanish ombudsman has been receiving complaints about cryptocurrency and how some Spanish citizens investing in these vehicles have lost everything. In his annual report, Angel Gabilondo recognized the rise of cryptocurrencies as a new problem due to the little or no regulation crypto sees in the country. In the same way, the EU has also warned about these assets recently. Spanish Ombudsman Gives His Take on Crypto Angel Gabilondo, the Spanish ombudsman, has given his take regarding cryptocurrencies and the effects they have on citizens investing in some of these projects. Gabilondo said in his yearly report that cryptocurrencies have become “a new problem” during the year examined, with many people having lost all of their funds invested. The report states : Cryptocurrency exchange companies or platforms are not regulated in the legal system, are not subject to any public supervision system, nor do they benefit from deposit guarantee systems. The affected users that sought