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Every now and then, there is a high profile closure of a Dark Net market. The most famous such closure, of course, was of Silk Road. In 2017, two of the largest Dark Net markets, Alpha Bay and Hansa, were also closed down. But as history has shown, when one market closes, another opens. As long as their is money to be made on the Dark Net, like water which will always find the path of least resistance, Vendors and customers will find their way to alternative sources as other markets become popular and new ones will emerge.
The outcome of Darknet Marketplaces in 2017
The second half of 2017 has been very rocky for Dark Web markets. following the closure of Alpaha Bay and Hansa, other sites went down for extended periods of time. It is still unclear if this took place due to DDOS attacks or if law enforcement was involved, but when looked at in the larger context of the events of 2017, they are causing real concern on the Dark Web markets.
Add to the closure of those two high profile markets the phenomenon of many market administrators just running away with user’s bitcoins and scaring away potential customers and markets such as Trade Route closing due to data leaks and you have a situation where dark market vendors are looking for alternative platforms and methods to protect themselves while carrying on their business.
Peer to Peer vendor shops are becoming an increasingly popular alternative which not only keeps these vendors below the radar screen of law enforcement which tend to focus on the larger, more successful markets, but also saves vendor costs associated with escrow charges involved in transactions on the more traditional dark web markets.
The future of Darknet Marketplaces
One thing is for certain: as long as the dark net offers an attractive and safe platform for making money and easily acquiring illegal merchandise, dark net markets, whether of the traditional type or of the emerging Peer to Peer variety, will continue to be popular.
Read more on the next generation dark net markets in the recent Cybersixgill threat report, by clicking here:
Read the Next Web.com article - Drug vendors are ditching dark web markets to start their own private P2P shops - which is based on the Cybersixgill threat report.
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