Germany Shuts Down Russian Hydra Darknet Market; Seizes $25 Million in BTC

 German authorities announced on Tuesday that Hydra, the world's largest illegal dark web marketplace, had been shut down. Hydra has facilitated over $5 billion in Bitcoin transactions to date, according to the BKA.

Bitcoins worth approximately €23 million, according to the BKA, have been seized and are being held as proceeds of the marketplace. 88 transactions totaling 543.3 BTC were seized on April 5, 2022, according to blockchain analytics firm Elliptic.

Hydra was shut down as a result of a joint investigation between the Central Office for Combating Cybercrime (ZIT) and U.S. law enforcement agencies that began in August 2021, the agency said.

It was originally launched in 2015 as a rival to the now-defunct Russian Anonymous Marketplace (also known as RAMP), a darknet marketplace primarily known for its high-traffic narcotics market before expanding its focus to peddle forged documents and stolen credit cards.

Hackers are using it to sell stolen credit cards and SIM cards, as well as to obfuscate their own digital transactions by using regional exchanges and extended money laundering techniques," Flashpoint reported in a May 2021 report.

Annual Hydra transaction volumes are expected to reach $1.6 billion by the end of 2021, a stunning increase from $6.6 million in 2016.

An obfuscated Bitcoin Bank Mixer was also installed on this dark webshop, which is estimated to have generated $424.2 million in revenue in just three months in 2022. This made it difficult for law enforcement agencies to track the cryptocurrency trails.

Seizure banner: "The platform and criminal content have been seized by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) on behalf of Frankfurt am Main's Attorney General's Office in an international coordinated law enforcement operation."

In the wake of recent law enforcement actions against criminal marketplaces, including UniCC, Canadian HeadQuarters, and four Russian carding shops specializing in the sale of stolen credit cards, Hydra has been shut down.