In general, the fee is imposed on each covered entity with aggregated branded prescription drug sales of over 5 million to specified. Despite lighter criminal penalties for drug possession, the Netherlands enjoys negligible HIV rates among people who inject drugs and the lowest rate of. Darknet marketplaces remain central to illicit trade in 2025, with evolving business models, payment systems, and law enforcement responses. This survey highlights active and recently shuttered markets with actionable metrics and intelligence for threat hunters, CISOs, and red team leaders. While some of these markets were shuttered by law enforcement agencies – some took the easy way out with exit scams. Here are some of the now-defunct dark web markets that were notorious for cybercrime.
Shuttered Markets And Lessons
It is one of the first studies to describe and quantify the types, amounts, available weights, prices and shipment origins and destination of fentanyl, fentanyl analogs and other novel synthetic opioid products sold on the darknet. Fentanyl, fentanyl analogs, “synthetic heroin” and other novel synthetic opioid substances represent only 3.3% of all opioid listings advertised on DreamMarket from March 2018 to January 2019. Although novel synthetic opioids constitute a small fraction of the overall illicit opioid market on the darknet, the potency of these opioids make the amount needed for one dose smaller compared to other opioids (Pardo et al., 2019). It also decreases the quantity needed to be sent by mail, lowering the chance for shipment to be detected and seized by customs or law enforcement agents (Baum, 2017; O’Connor, 2017). Criminal entities involved in drug trafficking continue to upgrade their tooling and advance their operations in the Dark Web.
Data Collection
Since the outbreak of the coronavirus, dark web journalist and author Eileen Ormsby reported some cryptomarkets have quickly imposed bans on vendors seeking to profit from the pandemic. This section elaborates on the methodology used to identify opioid trading information in the anonymous market and forums. Specifically, we collected approximately 248,359 unique listings and 1,138,961 unique forum traces (ie, threads of posts) from 10 anonymous online marketplaces and 6 forums. We then identified 311 opioid keywords and jargons to recognize 28,106 listings and 13,508 forum traces related to underground opioid trading activities.
Manual checks have been performed to remove inconsistent data and outliers to prevent potential distortions in the calculations of averages. Listings displaying several countries (e.g., “FRANCE BELGIUM HOLLAND GERMANY”) or imprecise/inexistent/ambivalent countries of origins (e.g., “North Pole,” “The White House”) were excluded from the analysis. 95,011 opioid-related listings were collected through 26 crawling sessions. 33 novel synthetic opioids were identified in 3.3% of the collected listings. 44.7% of these listings advertised fentanyl (pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical) or fentanyl analogs for an average of 2.8kgs per crawl. “Synthetic heroin” accounted for 33.2% of novel synthetic opioid listings for an average 1.1kgs per crawl with 97.7% of listings advertised as shipped from Canada.
Prices: Street Vs Darknet
Regional distribution of opioids for sale presented on Hydra, in grams, per 100,000 population in Russia. The following graphs show the average amount of grams of psychoactive substances in a region adjusted per 100,000 population. The averages were obtained by averaging the data across all samples to get a more accurate result and eliminate the possible influence of seasonality, weekends, holidays, etc. Regional distribution of all drugs for sale presented on Hydra, in grams per 100,000 population in Russia. Table 2 represents the 15 regions with the highest volumes of all drugs in Russia. Central and Eastern regions are most affected; the leaders are Moscow and Saint Petersburg cities and oblasts.
Like all these other DNMs, the forum features crypto payment rails, with a seemingly exclusive bias towards Bitcoin. Dark web chatter and innuendo suggests how both DNMs are rumored to be more pro-Ukrainian than Russian. With nearly 292,000 members, RuTor is the largest DNM on the Russian-speaking dark web.
The 10 Biggest Dark Web Markets In 2025 – Updated List & Security Insights
We found evidence through extensive analyses of the anonymous online market of pervasive supply, which fuels the international opioid epidemic. Nontraditional methods, as presented here by studying the online supply chain, present a novel approach for governmental and other large-scale solutions. When interpreted by professionals, our initial results demonstrate useful findings and may be used downstream by law enforcement and public policy makers for impactful structural interventions to the opioid crisis. Although a large body of current research is focused on pathways for treatment of opioid use disorder and analyzing deaths per treatment capacity of substance use providers, these research areas are limited to the demand side of the opioid epidemic 40,41.
1 Data Collection
THE HAGUE — Authorities in the U.S. and Europe arrested nearly 300 people, confiscated more than $53 million and seized a dark-web marketplace as part of an international crackdown on drug trafficking that officials say was the largest operation of its kind. No, black market websites operate illegally and pose high risks of scams, fraud, and law enforcement action. The patterns revealed in this analysis are not static; they can shift over time due to changes in drug supply, law enforcement efforts, and societal attitudes. Continued monitoring is essential to ensure drug policies remain responsive to the current situation.
Common Scams On Dark Web Marketplaces
These classes included sub-classes to identify specific types of fentanyl analogs and other drugs. For example, the fentanyl analog class included a list of 51 fentanyl analog names (e.g., carfentanyl, acetylfentanyl), and other novel synthetic opioid class included a list of 17 compounds (e.g., U-47,700, AP-237) (see Table 1). Entities that were not recognized by the NER algorithm were grouped into a separate “Unidentified” class. Tor2door’s been a standout since 2020—over 20,000 listings and a custom-built site that’s not some cookie-cutter junk.
- In 2022 and Q dark web markets continued to bloom with a multitude of listings of various illegal goods and services.
- Archetyp launched in May 2020 and quickly grew to become one of the most popular dark web markets with an estimated total transaction volume of €250 million (A$446 million).
- This applies even when the information is needed for critical procedures, such as registering for Social Security or obtaining a new driver’s license.
- Only four Russian-language DNMs left the approximately 20-strong ecosystem in 2024.
- The average amount of drugs per 100,000 people in Russia varies widely between regions.
- Because at other exchanges, if you deposit $100 worth of funds today, they may become $80 or $70 as well and you’ll have to deposit funds again, hence again taking more time and transaction fee.
Study: On Darknet Drug Markets, Buyers Aren’t Seeking Out Best Prices
“Bravo,” says another for a $5 sample of fentanyl, one of 18 reviews posted on the product’s profile page in the last week. In all, Empire lists over 18,000 narcotic offerings, including hundreds for oxycodone alone. Researchers noted that the majority of buyers only made a single purchase. If these buyers were simply experimenting with one time drug use, they suggested this could be why price matters so little. There is violence and corruption at every point in the supply chain as drugs move from producers to users.
No commercial or personal interests of the authors can steer the study or its outcomes. The research did not require the use of human participants or private information that could identify individuals. All data analyzed were aggregated, public data, hence protected against the collection or processing of personal data or any identifiable information. The research was conducted while keeping a strict standard on data privacy to protect individual privacy throughout this study.
Due to being the most popular and the oldest coin, Bitcoin is traceable. However, Monero, on the other hand, is untraceable and the most trusted payment method on these markets. Therefore, most cybersecurity experts recommend using Monero while shopping on darknet markets.
The Top 10 Darknet Marketplaces Of 2025
Nevertheless, the Western DNM ecosystem experienced some innovation in spite of recent enforcement actions. Amongst the most notable was the first merger and acquisition between two marketplaces on the darknet — whereby the struggling SuperMarket was absorbed by the now-Superlisted DrugHub in an operation that lasted around one month. 2024 also saw the establishment of the first Telegram-only Western darknet marketplace, Si Market, which now hosts more than 40 vendors specializing in the sale of psychedelics, cannabis, and cannabis-related products. Judging by that buzzing trade, there’s little hint that just the week before, global law enforcement announced the takedowns of two of the world’s largest dark-web drug sites, known as Wall Street Market and Valhalla. Or that the most popular market, called Dream, had taken itself offline at the end of last month, perhaps sensing law enforcement closing in.
