Germany shut down the Hydra Darknet Market, seized servers and funds in Bitcoin

German Law Enforcement agencies have targeted a leading darknet market, Hydra, as part of the operation with cooperation from the US. 

One of the largest darknet marketplaces, Hydra Market, has been shut down by authorities in Germany, which seized its infrastructure servers and funds all along. As per the announcement made by BKA, the Federal Criminal Police Office, law enforcement agents have seized bitcoin worth more than 23 million euros, which totals $25 million. 

Federal Criminal Police carried out the operation along with ZIT, the Central office for Combating Cybercrime at the Frankfurt office of Public Prosecutor, which is leading the probe against operators and administrators of Hydra. The Police want those Hydra operators and administrators for running illegal online platforms that facilitate drugs trading and money laundering. 

German Police stated that Hydra marketplace had been active for a long, since 2015, before it’s seizure, followed by intensive investigations by Federal Criminal Police and Cybercrime Combating Central office. The agencies in Germany started the investigation in August 2021 and took cooperation from several US agencies who participated in the operation. 

Hydra darknet marketplace was accessible by dark web browser the Tor network, which was targeting the Russian speakers. As the press release stated, the marketplace had approximately 17 million customers and more than 19,000 registered sellers. Hydra darknet consisted of such banned substances, stolen data offerings, digital services and forged documents. 

The darknet market Hydra became a prominent market after bypassing another Russian platform by the name DNM Ramp. As per the data that blockchain forensics company Chainalysis compiles, which notes that the Eastern Europe region sends more cryptocurrency to these darknet marketplaces than any other region. 

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However, Washington (the US) has been alleging the involvement of Russia in such malicious cyber actors like ransomware groups, darknet markets and other crimes related to crypto. The US Department of Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Suex, a Russia based crypto broker who is believed to have received more than $20 million worth of receiving the amount from the darknet markets such as Hydra. 

The Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on Hydra and Garantex, named crypto exchanges. The trading platform mostly operated outside Russia, is suspected of processing more than $100 million in transactions linked to bad actors and darknet markets, including Hydra with $2.6 million. 

Nancy J. Allen is a crypto enthusiast and believes that cryptocurrencies inspire people to be their own banks and step aside from traditional monetary exchange systems. She is also intrigued by blockchain technology and its functioning.

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