Security News > 2021 > May > Russian Hydra DarkNet Market Made Over $1.3 Billion in 2020
Russian-language dark web marketplace Hydra has emerged as a hotspot for illicit activities, pulling in a whopping $1.37 billion worth of cryptocurrencies in 2020, up from $9.4 million in 2016, marking a staggering 624% year-over-year jump over a three-year period from 2018 to 2020.
Active since 2015, Hydra opened as a competitor to the now-defunct Russian Anonymous Marketplace, primarily facilitating narcotics trade, before becoming a bazaar for all things criminal, including offering BTC cash-out services and peddling stolen credit cards, SIM cards, documents, IDs, and counterfeit money, with the operators profiting as the intermediary for every transaction conducted on the platform.
Hydra accounts for over 75% of darknet market revenue worldwide in 2020, positioning it as a major player in the crypto crime landscape in Eastern Europe, according to a report by Chainalysis published in February 2021.
These withdrawal restrictions have also made Hydra seller accounts a hot commodity on various underground forums, fostering a new offshoot market where cybercriminals purchase an established seller account to gain direct access to the marketplace and entirely sidestep Hydra policies and enforcement controls.
What's more, Hydra's cash-out services - which allow bitcoin to be converted into gift vouchers, prepaid debit cards, Russian rubles, or even physical cash that's concealed at a discreet location - have made crypto laundering a lucrative way for criminals to exchange their bitcoin haul without being identified and reported.
"While Hydra currently supports the selling of many illicit goods and services, its strongest market, by far, remains narcotics sales. Should Hydra continue to grow, its support of other cybercriminal trades will likely expand along with it."