Hydra Market

Last updated
Hydra
Type of site
Darknet market
Available inRussian
Revenue $5 billion dollars (lifetime)
CommercialYes
Users 17 million users
19,000 sellers
Launched2015
Current statusOffline since April 2022

Hydra was a Russian language dark web marketplace, founded in 2015, [1] that facilitated trafficking of illegal drugs, financial services including cryptocurrency tumbling for money laundering, exchange services between cryptocurrency and Russian rubles, [2] and the sale of falsified documents and hacking services. [3] On April 5, 2022, American and German federal government law enforcement agencies announced the seizure of the website's Germany-based servers and cryptocurrency assets. Before its closure, it had been the longest-running dark web marketplace. [4] [5] The United States Department of Justice has indicted one Russian man for his role in running the servers for the website. [3]

Contents

Group of admins/managers running Hydra market were not discovered or arrested. [6]

At the time of server takedown it had 17 million registered customers. [7]

The closure of Hydra started the ongoing Russian darknet market conflict over Russian darknet drug markets.

Financial services

Unique among dark net marketplaces, Hydra provided various criminal financial services. [2]

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References

  1. Kan, Michael. "German Police Take Down Hydra Market, a Major Dark Web Marketplace". PCMag . Retrieved 2023-10-08.
  2. 1 2 Greenberg, Andy. "Shutdown of Russia's Hydra Market Disrupts a Crypto-Crime ATM". Wired . ISSN   1059-1028. Archived from the original on 2022-04-05. Retrieved 2022-04-06.
  3. 1 2 Mangan, Dan (2022-04-05). "World's biggest darknet marketplace, Russia-linked Hydra Market, seized and shut down, DOJ says". CNBC. Retrieved 2022-04-06.
  4. "Law enforcement seized Hydra servers, $25m in digicash". www.theregister.com. Archived from the original on 2022-04-07. Retrieved 2022-04-06.
  5. "Germany shuts down world's largest illegal marketplace on darknet with US help". ABC News. Archived from the original on 2022-04-07. Retrieved 2022-04-06.
  6. "How police shut down world's largest darknet market". BBC News. 2022-04-05. Archived from the original on 2022-04-07. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  7. "Germany shuts down darknet platform specializing in drugs". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286. Archived from the original on 2022-04-07. Retrieved 2022-04-07.