Tajammul Pangarkar is the co-founder of a PR firm and the Chief Technology Officer at Prudour Research Firm. With a Bachelor of Engineering in Information Technology from Shivaji University, Tajammul brings over ten years of expertise in digital marketing to his roles. He excels at gathering and analyzing data, producing detailed statistics on various trending topics that help shape industry perspectives. Tajammul’s deep-seated experience in mobile technology and industry research often shines through in his insightful analyses. He is keen on decoding tech trends, examining mobile applications, and enhancing general tech awareness. His writings frequently appear in numerous industry-specific magazines and forums, where he shares his knowledge and insights.
Another 26% of respondents said they’ve used this environment to retrieve information and content unavailable in their region. This excuse is more common in Middle Eastern, African, and BRICS countries. Europe is also increasing its usage of the dark web, with 17% of citizens utilizing the ecosystem every day. PT Security found around 7 out of 10 inquiries related to website hacking cited the main goal as gaining access to a specific web resource. Though Bitcoin has lost some of its share to alternative cryptocurrencies in recent years, it remains to be the dominant currency on the dark web. According to Chainalysis, the reason behind Russia’s growth in the darknet landscape is the popularity of the site “Hydra” which caters only to Russian speakers.
Top 10 Darknet Markets Of 2025
The vast majority rely on the Deep Web and the Dark Web to provide them with freedom and anonymity while browsing the internet. No, accessing the dark web through Tor or I2P is not illegal in most countries. However, engaging in illicit activities (like buying drugs, weapons, or stolen data) is against the law. Many journalists, researchers, and activists use the dark web for privacy, whistleblowing, or accessing censored information. The 2025 dark web is not just about shady marketplaces, it mirrors the evolution of the internet’s underground economy.
Cross-Border Regulation & Digital Identity Traceability
The earnings data highlights just how uneven, yet lucrative, this underground economy can be. Surprisingly, drugs account for only 4%, a sharp contrast to their infamous reputation. Finally, hacked accounts (3%), pornography (1%), and weapons (0.3%) make up the smallest slices of the ecosystem. ⚠️ Expect a shift from Tor to multi-protocol darknet ecosystems, with more hybrid models using blockchain-based identity masking. The dark web is evolving rapidly, driven by new technologies, global enforcement efforts, and shifting threat actor behaviors.
What Is The Most Popular Darknet Marketplace In 2025?
While most of us browse websites with a few clicks, there’s an entire hidden ecosystem where anonymity reigns and commerce thrives, often illegally. Next, we extracted information about stolen data products from the markets on a weekly basis for eight months, from September 1, 2020, through April 30, 2021. Silk Road, which emerged in 2011, combined TOR and bitcoin to become the first known darknet market. The market was eventually seized in 2013, and the founder, Ross Ulbricht, was sentenced to two life sentences plus 40 years without the possibility of parole. Ulbricht’s hefty prison sentence did not appear to have the intended deterrent effect.
Law Enforcement Operations
When we see the layout on versus, its very simple and easy to navigate around the market. The buyer can add the products to cart and then either use the multisig option or a fast payment method to finish the order process. Tor2door powers 25,000+ listings and $4.5M monthly trades via BTC and XMR, holding a 7% share. Its 13,000+ users and 1,100+ vendors rely on a secure, fast-paced trading network. Alphabay reigns supreme with 60,000+ listings and $20M monthly trades, dominating 20% of darknet commerce via BTC and XMR.
Alphabay Market
Interestingly, the price of stealing someone’s identity can differ depending on where you are in the world. US credit card details are valued at significantly less (around $17 on average) than other nations, thanks to a higher amount of supply. The new record number of data compromises is around 23% higher than the previous all-time high which was first set in 2017. Notably, the review also found the number of data events involving sensitive information like social security numbers has increased by 3%. Lookout believes part of the reasoning behind this issue is the number of people using poor quality passwords.
By Online Hacked Accounts
Driven by demand for privacy and illicit goods, these top 10 markets—featuring Alphabay, Archetyp, and more—offer unparalleled variety, security, and resilience despite law enforcement crackdowns. This guide provides verified .onion links, market stats, and expert insights into Tor and Monero usage as of February 21, 2025. Our research details a thriving underground economy and illicit supply chain enabled by darknet markets. As long as data is routinely stolen, there are likely to be marketplaces for the stolen information. In total, there were 2,158 vendors who advertised at least one of the 96,672 product listings across the 30 marketplaces.
- While Mega’s inflows declined by more than 50% year-over-year (YoY), Kraken DNM’s rose nearly 68% YoY.
- Between July 1 and September 30, 2023, this anonymous browser averaged over 4.61 million daily users, with more than 4.45 million connecting to it directly.
- Cybercriminals exploit the dark web’s hidden nature to conduct a wide range of illicit activities — from hacking and doxing to fraud and ransomware (and much more).
- Hacked and verified Wirex and N26 accounts commanded the highest prices — $2,300 and $2,650, respectively.
- Most people automatically think of criminal activity when imagining what might go on within the dark web.
- Law enforcement has been sitting in alleged crime figures’ back This time, it decided to market an encrypted app of its own to.
Vendors and product listings were not distributed equally across markets. On average, marketplaces had 109 unique vendor aliases and 3,222 product listings related to stolen data products. Marketplaces recorded 632,207 sales across these markets, which generated $140,337,999 in total revenue. On average, marketplaces had 26,342 sales and generated $5,847,417 in revenue. To do this, we first identified 30 darknet markets advertising stolen data products.
If someone gets to your financial information or social media credentials by paying the price listed above, it will fully pay off. In addition to various benzodiazepines, stimulants, and psychedelics, one longstanding China-based research chemical manufacturer also sells nitazenes. The vendor’s listing of a protonitazene analog boldly states that the compound has a potency 20x greater than that of fentanyl, as seen below.
Projected Growth: Marketplaces, Forums & Users
Meanwhile, the visible part of the internet all users can access is known as the Surface Web, and it hosts an estimated 19 terabytes of data. As dark web marketplaces evolve, so too do the sophistication and automation of the threats sold and traded. The line between cybercrime and cyberwarfare is increasingly blurred, with AI, encryption, and automation powering a new generation of scalable, intelligent attacks. As cyberattacks and data breaches intensify in 2025, the volume of exposed credentials indexed on the dark web has reached unprecedented levels. The dark web isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and in order to protect yourself online, it’s important you become aware of what to expect.
If you choose to republish our data on your own website, we simply ask that you provide a proper citation or link back to the respective page on Market.us Scoop. We appreciate your support and look forward to continuing to provide valuable insights for our audience. You should also consider using a security software program like Panda Dome, which protects against viruses and malware. It comes with features like anonymous browsing and helps you continuously scan for digital threats, protecting you and your loved ones against evolving digital threats. But beneath the surface of familiar websites lies a hidden world known as the dark web.
It is common to hear news reports about large data breaches, but what happens once your personal data is stolen? Our research shows that, like most legal commodities, stolen data products flow through a supply chain consisting of producers, wholesalers, and consumers. But this supply chain involves the interconnection of multiple criminal organizations operating in illicit underground marketplaces.
