During the primary few months of 2022, enterprise was booming at Hydra Marketplace, the premiere Dark Web vacation spot for cybercrime cash laundering and promoting narcotics and different unlawful items and companies.
In reality, till its takedown in April 2022, Hydra owned a full 93% of all illicit underground financial actions.
Here’s how huge Hydra’s presence was on the Dark Web: In the times main as much as Hydra’s takedown, the typical day by day income for all underground markets was about $4.2 million. That quantity fell to only $447,000 after Hydra disappeared, in line with new knowledge launched by Chainalysis.
Year-over-year, Dark Web market revenues on the finish of 2021 had been about $3.1 billion, however by the top of 2022 they totaled solely about $1.5 billion.
Hydra Takedown Leaves Void
Fast ahead 10 months after the demise of Russian-based Hydra, and the Dark Web market ecosystem remains to be struggling to recuperate. Namely, it has been robust to copy or substitute Hydra’s money-laundering companies for cybercriminals.
Out of the rubble of the demolished Hydra Marketplace, three early contenders for greatest participant emerged: OMG!OMG! Market, Blacksprut, and Mega Darknet Market, in line with Chainalysis’ analysis.
Early on, OMG was the frontrunner, peaking at simply over 65% of the underground market enterprise, however a June distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) assault on OMG drove customers to rivals Mega Darknet Market and Blacksprut Market, in line with Chainalysis.
So far, no different market has been capable of dominate the Dark Web market like Hydra did in its heyday.
Fraud Services Falter Post-Hydra
Four of the highest 5 most profitable darknet markets centered on illicit substance gross sales. The fifth, a platform referred to as “Brian Dumps,” is the one one among the many high underground marketplaces dealing in stolen bank card and different personally figuring out data (PII), a enterprise mannequin Chainalysis calls a “fraud store.”
Bypass Shop, one other related fraud store, was shuttered by Russian authorities final March, the report stated. Brian Dumps seems to have additionally suffered some disruption final October, dropping its revenues for that month to zero, in line with Chainalysis. But the explanation behind the problem stays unclear.
A New Mission
Mounting struggles within the darknet ecosystem current an unlimited alternative to soak up Hydra’s consumer base and reign the underground supreme. But the important thing to attracting customers to those platforms is offering cryptocurrency and fiat currency-laundering companies, the analysis exhibits.
All three high markets, Mega Darknet, Blacksprut, and OMG, present indicators they’ve began providing cryptocurrency money-laundering companies to lure in Hydra customers, in line with Chainalysis. There can be some proof of collaboration between the platforms, the report identified.
Early after Hydra’s closure, OMG’s market share of enterprise exploded as a result of it supplied money-laundering companies, says Eric Jardine, cybercrimes analysis lead at Chainalysis. That enterprise shifted to Mega Darknet as soon as it was capable of spin up related companies.
New Cybercrime Business Opportunity
Dark Web marketplaces are evolving into monetary companies suppliers for cybercriminals, Jardine says.
“With Hydra and the evolution of money-laundering companies as a function of the darknet market ecosystem, quite a few new monetary motivations come into play,” Jardine says. “Previous markets, akin to Silk Road, largely linked patrons and sellers of medication, however offering cash laundering and fiat foreign money off-ramp companies to cybercriminals ties darknet markets extra to the ebb and movement of ransomware and cybercrime than had beforehand been the case.”
As these platforms proceed to supply digital asset companies, cybercriminals can be motivated to commit extra digital asset-based cybercrimes, says Karl Steinkamp, with cybersecurity advisory agency Coalfire.