Despite the coronavirus pandemic that greatly impacted on traditional financial markets, the darknet is only getting bigger. According to data provided by Chainalysis, overall darknet market revenue for 2020 has surpassed that of 2019.
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While darknet's revenue surpassed last year's results, total transfers to darknet stand at over 9 million, which is below pace to meet the 2019 total of over 12 million.
"The numbers show that customers in 2020 are making fewer purchases but for larger amounts per purchase compared to 2019," the company says.
The experts believe this decrease indicates that ordinary buyers (those buying drugs for personal use) are turning away from darknet markets, while those buying in big amounts are increasing their purchases. Earlier this year, Chainalysis revealed that the number of BTCs associated with illegal activities reached almost 900,000 (~5% of the current bitcoin supply).
Most of these bitcoins are traded in the darknet markets, where users sell illegal substances, personal data and other illegal products.
In November 2020, over 10,000 account credentials allegedly tied to Robinhood had been identified on darknet marketplaces. According to Eli Dominitz, Q6 Cyber CEO, the amount of Robinhood-related credentials outnumber those for other brokerages "by about 5-to-1."
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