Quote from: gentlemand on February 06, 2020, 11:05:44 PM

They're all trustworthy until they're not.

Maybe the oldest and biggest still going is Hydra, a Russian one. They're the cheeky chappies who recently proposed an ICO.

https://www.coindesk.com/russias-largest-darknet-market-is-hawking-an-ico-to-fund-global-expansion

r/darkmarkets used to be the place to keep abreast of them but that was shut down. This looks like the closest equivalent but a bit more general - https://www.reddit.com/r/darknet/

This too - https://www.darknetstats.com

Well, I'd have to admit that it's hard to find a darknet marketplace that's legitimate and able to survive for a long time. I'm surprised to know that a marketplace like "Hydra" is still alive after a long time since inception. Still though, I'm quite skeptical about it since it comes from Russia. I know that most hackers come from there, so it'll be somewhat risky to send my hard-earned Bitcoin to a marketplace that's based on Russia.

I'd be surprised to see recognized companies like eBay or Amazon launching an alternative version on the darknet that would accept Bitcoin or privacy-oriented coins like Monero or Grin. This seems more like a dream than anything else, considering that the darknet has a lot of bad reputation. But in crypto land, anything could happen. If there's demand from people in the mainstream world into marketplaces which rely on alternative networks, then we'll be able to see more legitimate services over time. Otherwise, marketplaces using the clearnet (public Internet) will still be the norm of e-commerce.

All in all, thanks for the links. I'll be sure to check into them for more info related to marketplaces on the darknet. Wink

Quote from: BitMaxz on February 06, 2020, 11:18:20 PM

There are lots of Darknet marketplaces that accept bitcoin but most of them are a scam.
If you are looking for a trustworthy marketplace you can not find them on the darknet.

If your concern is privacy why not deal p2p marketplace like OpenBazaar?

The OpenBazaar is safe just make sure that you are dealing with trusted merchant.

That's certainly true, mate. Most (if not all) darknet marketplaces are a complete scam. It's hard to find a legitimate marketplace that would make use of the darknet today. I would use OpenBazaar, but it's not anonymous by the protocol level. It still accepts Zcash for privacy, but it's not as good as Monero or Grin (most people claim that ZEC has a backdoor which defeats privacy). To find a trusted merchant on OpenBazaar is like finding a "needle in a haystack".