On 5th April German investigators shut down one of the world's biggest darknet markets named Hydra Market specialized in drug dealing, seizing bitcoin worth 23 million euros ($25.3 million).

The cybercrime office of the Frankfurt prosecutor's office and federal criminal police confiscated 543 BTC as they "secured" the site's servers, according to a federal police statement on Tuesday.

As per a federal police statement on Tuesday, 543 BTC was seized by the cybercrime office of the Frankfurt prosecutor's office and government criminal police as they "secured" the site's servers.

Government police observed 17 million clients and 19,000 vender accounts. Hydra Market likely had the most elevated turnover among unlawful commercial centers on the planet, as per the assertion. Investigators said the market had deals of something like 1.23 billion euros in 2020.

The Russian illegal market likewise had an implicit bitcoin protection blender, which was convoluted following the exchanges, said the police proclamation.

The investigation began last year’s August and included U.S. authorities, the police said.

The U.S. Depository Department likewise declared Tuesday it was authorizing Hydra as well as a virtual cash trade, Garantex that works out of Russia. The department said the two substances have been utilized to assist with funding the exercises of ransomware groups.

The Hydra stage had been dynamic essentially starting around 2015 and was available through the Tor program, German examiners said.  Though the webpage has been removed from the web. That's what they added, as well as unlawful drugs, manufactured reports, captured data, and "digital services" were made available for purchase. They said that it had around 17 million enlisted client records and over 19,000 enrolled vendors.

Cybercrime research firm Elliptic said Hydra has worked with more than $5 billion in bitcoin exchanges beginning around 2015, getting a lift after the end of a vital rival in 2017.

“Listings on the site also included forged documents, data (such as credit card information), and digital services,” Elliptic said. “Products were advertised for sale in a number of countries such as Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan.”

Joyashree Dey

CBW - External Analyst

INDIA