with the FBI, DEA, IRS Criminal Investigations, and Homeland Security Investigations in the US—seized the Germany-based servers of Hydra, shutting down the site and confiscating $25 million in bitcoins stored there. In doing so, they've put an end to, by some measures, the longest-running and most crowded black market in the history of the dark web, with 19,000 seller accounts and more than 17 million customer accounts, according to BKA.
Around half of the roughly $2 billion in transactions going into Hydra market's cryptocurrency addresses in 2021 and early 2022 were from illicit or "risky" sources such as stolen funds, dark web markets, ransomware, online gambling, scams, and individual and organizations facing sanctions, according to cryptocurrency tracing firm Chainalysis.
As a cashout service, Hydra didn't function like a normal exchange, in which users could trade cryptocurrency for traditional dollars or euros in a bank account, or vice versa. Instead, according to Russian-speaking analysts at threat intelligence firm Flashpoint, the market offered services in which customers could spend cryptocurrency to buy rubles from vendors on the site, which were then sent to the buyer with payment services like QIWI, Tinkoff, or Yandex.Money .
Right but Silk Road was shut down years ago because of the exact same reasons. And this crap was allowed to exist until now?!?! People, teach your kids that life isn't fair and justice does not exist
So the Russian Silk Road? SilvermanJacob davidgerard
If something is named “Hydra”, maybe you target that first.