Darkweb Markets in 2024

DarkWeb is primarily an anonymous network based on non-standard protocols, encryption systems and trusted peer-to-peer connections. Darknet is a place where users can communicate freely and confidentially with each other without fear of censorship or other government interference.

Network anonymity in the darknet contributed to the development of the shadow economy, and with the advent of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies led to the emergence of the so-called cryptomarkets in the “dark web”. Cryptomarkets are trading platforms that operate as a black market. Such sites sell goods and services that are illegal or restricted in circulation, according to the laws of a particular country. Most often these are fake documents, weapons, illegal substances, malicious software, data breaching, hacking social networks and other hacking services.

Marketplaces most often act as intermediaries between anonymous users – buyers and sellers. In addition to items forbidden for sale, there are also stolen goods, contraband, bank cards registered in the name of fake people, databases, insider information, forbidden materials (music, movies, literature), counterfeit money, documents, precious metals, art objects, and so on to infinity. It’s easier to list all the things you CANNOT buy on the darknet. If there is a demand, there will be a supply. The main means of payment on the black market in DeepWeb is Bitcoin and Monero.

Don’t think that the darknet contains ONLY everything illegal and dangerous. Of course, the black market is huge, but on the scale of all information, the deepweb is only a tiny part. Many closed anonymous darknet communities discuss network security, politics, business, finance, programming, technology, and so on. In short, these are closed forums where people share their knowledge on a professional level, for various reasons, wanting to remain anonymous and inaccessible to others.

On the one hand, there are terabytes of illegal content on the darknet, databases are sold, and hackers and crooks are operating. It would seem that everything is quite unambiguous, but we can look at the darknet from a different angle. Freelance journalists and bloggers often post materials and investigations on the “dark” Internet, because the high degree of anonymity avoids governmental censorship. In some particularly authoritarian countries where human rights are not respected, the darknet is one of the few opportunities for independent exchange of information. If you have heard of WikiLeaks, you know that the success of this informal organization is linked to the “shadow web”.