Let’s hope she won’t raise her head again. The Russian-speaking marketplace “Hydra Market” has just been dismantled by the German federal police (BKA). The site was only accessible through the Tor network, which theoretically makes it possible to hide the IP addresses of the servers. But the investigators obviously found a way to locate them: they were in Germany. The federal police seized the entire infrastructure, as well as bitcoins for an amount equivalent to 23 million euros.
A gigantic hydra
Created in 2015, Hydra Market was a marketplace that mainly offered narcotics, but you could also find fake documents, bank card data, and services there.
It had 17 million customer accounts for 19,000 seller accounts. According to the analysis company Elliptic, the volume of transactions amounted to more than 1.4 billion euros in 2021, which made it the largest market place on the Darknet at the moment.
The total amount of transactions since the creation of the site would amount to more than 4.6 billion euros. By way of comparison, the AlphaBay site, dismantled in 2017, only had a turnover of one billion euros. It is therefore a very great success for the police who had started their investigation in August 2021.
Growth through services
But how is it that a marketplace limited to Russian speakers brews so many bitcoins? It is thanks to the services. According to the BKA, Hydra included a washing machine called “Bitcoin Bank Mixer”which made it possible to cover the tracks and camouflage the origin of cryptocurrencies.
According to Elliptic, the site also offered a conversion service to transform cryptocurrencies into fiat currencies (“cash-out”). These financial services attracted many cybercriminals.
According to the US Treasury Department, 86% of dirty bitcoin that ended up on Russian cryptocurrency exchanges came from Hydra. So it was a real crossroads in the system of laundering Russian-speaking cybercriminals.
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The US Treasury Department also took this opportunity to sanction one of these Russian exchange platforms, namely Garantex.
“Analysis of known Garantex transactions shows that more than $100 million in transactions are associated with illicit actors and Darknet markets, including nearly $6 million from the Russian Conti gang, which specializes in ransomware as a serviceand about $2.6 million from Hydra”specifies the federal agency.
From now on, the assets of Garantex and individuals linked to this company are frozen. Any commercial relationship with them is prohibited.
Sources : BKA, elliptical, US Treasury