“Meet the Hydra” – Picture by remelius via flickr.com . License: Creative Commons
Hydra was a gigantic Russian darknet drug market where residents of the former Soviet Union could use Bitcoin to buy drugs and other criminal goods. Since the market was shut down by German-American law enforcement in April, a lot has changed for drug addicts in Russia.
Of course, it was not a direct sanction, maybe not even an indirect one. But it was already a good time when German and US policemen had beheaded the Hydra.
At the beginning of April, the BKA seized the server of Hydra, the largest darknet marketplace in Russia … and the world, with the help of other international authorities. Hydra was the empire in the darknet of the entire former Soviet Union, its heads fed by 17 million users from Ukraine via Moscow to Kazakhstan. Hydra was the largest crypto company in Russia, and one of the larger IT companies in the country, if you want to call it that.
There were a lot of drugs on the market place. Also other criminal goods, such as credit card data, exploit kits, fake IDs or counterfeit money. But drugs, as with all darknet marketplaces, were the main focus.
If the shutdown of Hydra had been a sanction, purely hypothetically – what would it have brought? The Moscow Times recently reported on the consequences of the Hydra shutdown for the Russian drug scene.
First of all, the matter of purity. There were quality products on Hydra, the newspaper quotes one user. This was ensured by a reputation and rating system. After the platform closed, it stirred up the Russian drug market. People bought again on the street or through Telegram groups. Since there is no comparable reputation system there as with Hydra, the quality of the substances decreased. If you have a white powder, according to the user, “it is unclear what substances are in it.” Taking drugs is getting riskier.
Then the rip-off: the reputation system on Hydra not only ensures quality, but also honesty. On the street or on Telegram there is no or hardly any. Therefore, fraud occurs much more often. Drug addicts give money and get nothing or the wrong thing.
After all, street workers and addiction experts miss the information that Hydra spread with the drugs. How to consume them safely, how to stay healthy physically and mentally despite the addiction, what vitamins to take, and so on. If the addicts live long, they also buy drugs longer, according to the calculation. Since Hydra is down, the street workers have been doing their utmost to reach the drug addicts.
So the drug market is getting worse, more dangerous and more unpleasant. This comes just at a time when the outbreak of war has made life harder. Unemployment and financial desperation drove more and more people into drug addiction, according to the street workers.
So you could say: the sanction takes effect. It certainly does not affect those who caused the war or could end it. But this is another barrel that we don’t want to open here.
