US & German federal agents came down hard on Hydra, which is the longest running known dark-web marketplace which focuses in trafficking illegal drugs and money laundering services. They did so by seizing servers & crypto wallets containing $25 million in bitcoin, and by pressing criminal charges against one of their operators Dimitry Pavlov. The US Treasury Department also sanctioned the website, finding over 100 virtual currency addresses associated with its operations for illicit transactions. The site has 17 million users, and is popular amongst Russian speaking criminals It also accounted for 80% of all dark-web related transactions last year and has gained over $5 billion in cryptocurrency since 2015. The webpage works like any legit marketplace with users making accounts and buying/selling, except it was things like fake IDs, drugs, money laundering services, and other illegal activities. Pavlov was able to achieve success for Hydra by hosting a web provider called Promservice that managed dozens of servers, which in turn made up Hydra’s infrastructure. This allowed many, including Pavlov, to make a ton of money, and it allowed for Hydra to thrive.
By Jessica Lyons Hardcastle
4/25/22
US & German federal agents came down hard on Hydra, which is the longest running known dark-web marketplace which focuses in trafficking illegal drugs and money laundering services. They did so by seizing servers & crypto wallets containing $25 million in bitcoin, and by pressing criminal charges against one of their operators Dimitry Pavlov. The US Treasury Department also sanctioned the website, finding over 100 virtual currency addresses associated with its operations for illicit transactions. The site has 17 million users, and is popular amongst Russian speaking criminals It also accounted for 80% of all dark-web related transactions last year and has gained over $5 billion in cryptocurrency since 2015. The webpage works like any legit marketplace with users making accounts and buying/selling, except it was things like fake IDs, drugs, money laundering services, and other illegal activities. Pavlov was able to achieve success for Hydra by hosting a web provider called Promservice that managed dozens of servers, which in turn made up Hydra’s infrastructure. This allowed many, including Pavlov, to make a ton of money, and it allowed for Hydra to thrive.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/05/us_germany_hydra/