Cryptomarkets represent a growing component of the global illicit drugs trade. Australia is over-represented in the proportion of online vendors who use these platforms to reach drug consumers. Despite the growth in online drug trading, relatively little is known about people who use cryptomarkets to sell drugs. This study addresses the knowledge gap and provides qualitative insights into this new, and little understood, cohort of offenders.
The study found that vendors perceive less risk of violence and police intervention when selling drugs online and that the potential for profit exceeds that available when selling drugs offline.
References
URLs correct as at February 2024
Aldridge J & Décary-Hétu D 2014. Not an ‘Ebay for drugs’: The cryptomarket ‘Silk Road’ as a paradigm shifting criminal innovation. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2436643
Bakken SA, Moeller K & Sandberg S 2018. Coordination problems in cryptomarkets: Changes in cooperation, competition and valuation. European Journal of Criminology 15(4): 442–460. https://doi.org/10.1177/1477370817749177
Bancroft A & Reid PS 2016a. Concepts of illicit drug quality among darknet market users: Purity, embodied experience, craft and chemical knowledge. International Journal of Drug Policy 35: 42–49
Bancroft A & Reid PS 2016b. Challenging the techno-politics of anonymity: The case of cryptomarket users. Information, Communication & Society 20(4): 497–512. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2016.1187643
Barratt MJ, Ferris JA & Winstock AR 2016. Safer scoring? Cryptomarkets, social supply and drug market violence. International Journal of Drug Policy 35: 24–31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2016.04.019
Barratt MJ, Lenton S, Maddox A & Allen M 2016. ‘What if you live on top of a bakery and you like cakes?’—Drug use and harm trajectories before, during and after the emergence of Silk Road. International Journal of Drug Policy 35: 50–57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2016.04.006
Broséus J, Rhumorbarbe D, Mireault C, Ouellette V, Crispino F & Décary-Hétu D 2016. Studying illicit drug trafficking on Darknet markets: Structure and organisation from a Canadian perspective. Forensic Science International 264: 7–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2016.02.045
Christin N 2013. Traveling the Silk Road: A measurement analysis of a large anonymous online marketplace. Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on World Wide Web: Rio de Janeiro: 213–224. https://doi.org/10.1145/2488388.2488408
Coomber R 2006. Pusher myths: Re-situating the drug seller. London: Free Association Books
Demant J, Munksgaard R, Décary-Hétu D & Aldridge J 2018. Going local on a global platform. International Criminal Justice Review 28(3): 255–274. https://doi.org/10.1177/1057567718769719
Dwyer R & Moore D 2010. Understanding illicit drug markets in Australia: Notes towards a critical reconceptualization. British Journal of Criminology 50(1): 82–101. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azp065
Ladegaard I 2018. Instantly hooked? Freebies and samples of opioids, cannabis, MDMA, and other drugs in an illicit e-commerce market. Journal of Drug Issues 48(2): 226–245. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022042617746975
Maddox A, Barratt MJ, Allen M & Lenton S 2016. Constructive activism in the dark web: Cryptomarkets and illicit drugs in the digital ‘demimonde’. Information, Communication & Society 19(1): 111–126. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2015.1093531
Martin J 2018. Cryptomarkets, systemic violence and the ‘gentrification hypothesis’. Addiction 113(5): 797–798. https://doi.org/10.1111/add.14029
Martin J 2014. Drugs on the dark net: How cryptomarkets are transforming the global trade in illicit drugs. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan
Martin J, Cunliffe J & Munksgaard R 2019. Cryptomarkets: A research companion. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing
Moeller K, Munksgaard R & Demant J 2017. Flow my FE the vendor said: Exploring violent and fraudulent resource exchanges on cryptomarkets for illicit drugs. American Behavioral Scientist 61(11): 1427–1450. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764217734269
Morselli C 2001. Structuring Mr Nice: Entrepreneurial opportunities and brokerage positioning in the cannabis trade. Crime, Law & Social Change 35(3): 203–244
Morselli C, Décary-Hétu D, Paquet-Clouston M & Aldridge J 2017. Conflict management in illicit drug cryptomarkets. International Criminal Justice Review 27(4): 237–254. https://doi.org/10.1177/1057567717709498
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
Ormsby E 2014. Silk Road. Melbourne: Palgrave Macmillan Australia
Paquet-Clouston M, Décary-Hétu D & Morselli C 2018. Assessing market competition and vendors’ size and scope on AlphaBay. International Journal of Drug Policy 54: 87–98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2018.01.003
Reuter P & Caulkins J 1998. What price data tells us about drug markets. Journal of Drug Issues 28(3): 593–513
Sandberg S 2012. The importance of culture for cannabis markets: Towards an economic sociology of illegal drug markets. British Journal of Criminology 52(6): 1133–1151. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azs031
Soska K & Christin N 2015. Measuring the longitudinal evolution of the online anonymous marketplace ecosystem. Proceedings of the 24th USENIX Security Symposium. Washington DC: USENIX: 33–48
Tzanetakis M 2018. Comparing cryptomarkets for drugs. A characterisation of sellers and buyers over time. International Journal of Drug Policy 56: 176–186. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2018.01.022
Van Hout MC & Bingham T 2014. Responsible vendors, intelligent consumers: Silk Road, the online revolution in drug trading. International Journal of Drug Policy 25(2): 183–189. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2013.10.009
Van Hout MC & Bingham T 2013. ‘Silk Road’, the virtual drug marketplace: A single case study of user experiences. International Journal of Drug Policy 24(5): 385–391. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2013.01.005