Abstract
This chapter introduces the main case used in the book: darknet cryptomarkets. Cryptomarkets are one way in which the illicit drug market and drug use cultures are mediated through digital platforms. The cryptomarket case is unusual because it is one area where the groups supporting the market control the backend, the frontend and the content. This is very different from dealers and drug users who arrange deals through social media applications where people meet and communicate such as WeChat, Snapchat, or Tinder where they have a much more precarious and contingent position. The benefits and risks lie in the development of an information-driven community of illicit drug users. Information can be anonymously posted and reviewed. Control of the backend creates a risk. Drug dealers and users are exposing at least some information about themselves, even if it is just a time of login, to the market administrators and anyone who has managed to gain access to the backend.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Barratt, M. J., Ferris, J. A., & Winstock, A. R. (2014). Use of Silk Road, the online drug marketplace, in the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States. Addiction, 109(5), 774–783. https://doi.org/10.1111/add.12470.
Christin, N. (2013). Traveling the Silk Road: A measurement analysis of a large anonymous online marketplace. In Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on the World Wide Web (pp. 213–224). Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: WWW 2013.
Duxbury, S. W., & Haynie, D. L. (2017). The network structure of opioid distribution on a darknet cryptomarket. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10940-017-9359-4.
Hornsby, R., & Hobbs, D. (2007). A zone of ambiguity. British Journal of Criminology, 47(4), 551–571. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azl089.
Jaros, D. M. (2012). Perfecting criminal markets. Columbia Law Review, 112, 1947–1991.
Jordan, T., & Taylor, P. (1998). A sociology of hackers. The Sociological Review, 46(4), 757–780. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-954X.00139.
Kruithof, K., Aldridge, J., Décary-Hétu, D., Sim, M., Dujso, E., & Hoorens, S. (2016). Internet-facilitated drugs trade: An analysis of the size, scope and the role of the Netherlands. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation.
Leukfeldt, E. R., Kleemans, E. R., & Stol, W. P. (2017). A typology of cybercriminal networks: From low-tech all-rounders to high-tech specialists. Crime, Law and Social Change, 67(1), 21–37.
Maurer, B., Nelms, T. C., & Swartz, L. (2013). “When perhaps the real problem is money itself!”: The practical materiality of bitcoin. Social Semiotics, 23(2), 261–277.
Masson, K., & Bancroft, A. (2018). ‘Nice people doing shady things’: Drugs and the morality of exchange in the darknet cryptomarkets. International Journal of Drug Policy, 58, 78–84.
Maxwell, D., Speed, C., & Pschetz, L. (2017). Story blocks: Reimagining narrative through the blockchain. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 23(1), 79–97. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856516675263.
Moyle, L., Childs, A., Coomber, R., & Barratt, M. J. (2019). #Drugsforsale: An exploration of the use of social media and encrypted messaging apps to supply and access drugs. International Journal of Drug Policy, 63, 101–110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2018.08.005.
Munksgaard, R., & Demant, J. (2016). Mixing politics and crime—The prevalence and decline of political discourse on the cryptomarket. International Journal of Drug Policy, 35, 77–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2016.04.021.
Rhumorbarbe, D., Staehli, L., Broséus, J., Rossy, Q., & Esseiva, P. (2016). Buying drugs on a darknet market: A better deal? Studying the online illicit drug market through the analysis of digital, physical and chemical data. Forensic Science International, 267, 173–182.
Soska, K., & Christin, N. (2015). Measuring the longitudinal evolution of the online anonymous marketplace ecosystem. In Proceedings of the 22nd USENIX Security Symposium. Presented at the USENIX Security 2015, Washington, DC.
Steinmetz, K. F. (2015). Craft(y)ness an ethnographic study of hacking. The British Journal of Criminology, 55(1), 125–145. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azu061.
Van Buskirk, J., Bruno, R., Dobbins, T., Breen, C., Burns, L., Naicker, S., & Roxburgh, A. (2017). The recovery of online drug markets following law enforcement and other disruptions. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 173, 159–162.
Van Buskirk, J., Roxburgh, A., Farrell, M., & Burns, L. (2014). The closure of the Silk Road: What has this meant for online drug trading? Addiction, 109(4), 517–518.
van der Gouwe, D., Brunt, T. M., van Laar, M., & van der Pol, P. (2017). Purity, adulteration and price of drugs bought on-line versus off-line in the Netherlands. Addiction, 112(4), 640–648. https://doi.org/10.1111/add.13720.
Yar, M. (2005). The novelty of ‘cybercrime’: An assessment in light of routine activity theory. European Journal of Criminology, 2(4), 407–427. https://doi.org/10.1177/147737080556056.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bancroft, A. (2020). How Cryptomarkets Work. In: The Darknet and Smarter Crime. Palgrave Studies in Cybercrime and Cybersecurity. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26512-0_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26512-0_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-26511-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-26512-0
eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)