Hydra is 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]
Type of site | Darknet market |
|---|---|
| Available in | Russian |
| Revenue | $5 billion dollars (lifetime) |
| URL | hydraforums.io |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Users | 17 million users 19,000 sellers |
| Launched | 2015 |
| Current status | Online since April 2022 |
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
editUnique among dark net marketplaces, Hydra provided various criminal financial services.[2]
References
edit- ^ Kan, Michael. "German Police Take Down Hydra Market, a Major Dark Web Marketplace". PCMag. Retrieved 2023-10-08.
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ "Law enforcement seized Hydra servers, $25m in digicash". www.theregister.com. Archived from the original on 2022-04-07. Retrieved 2022-04-06.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "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.
- Goonetilleke et al 2023, "Hydra: Lessons from the World’s Largest Darknet Market"