Is the golden age of DNMs nearing its end?

Agora called it quits roughly half a year ago. Apparently they didn't think it was safe to continue operating like they had done. TOR is apparently not as secure as we all thought.

Many reliable and trusted vendors seem to have left the scene as well. Apparently Agora weren't the only ones to be apprehensive of new times ahead.

I have yet to find an existing market that didn't give me the impression it was run by 14-year-olds or third-world opportunists.

I feel like I hear and read more and more about vendors and buyers getting busted these days -- whether that means LE have upped their efforts or not, I I can't say. It is nonetheless a little disconcerting if you ask me.

OpenBazaar keeps being postponed. From what I've read, they don't wish to become a "silkroad replacement" anyways, so I'm not sure there is much to look forward to there.

What do you guys think? Am I being pessimistic, or do you also sense a negative trend in how the DNM scene has evolved recently? Could this ultimately mean the demise of DNM, or is there something in the pipelines I don't know about, something that could save us in this time of uncertainty and darkness?


Comments


[4 Points] gamusinum:

It is just starting ;-) it all really depends on all of us!


[4 Points] DrQuarters_:

The golden age has been dead for some time now.


[4 Points] None:

It's fucking over. It ended when mainstream media began reporting it, 2-3 years ago. The whole point was to obtain drugs easily without risk. Now it's safer and easier to buy your drugs IRL.


[3 Points] stormfayn:

We can't keep writing your articles for you, Vice.


[2 Points] None:

We aren't even in the golden age. it's probably different for everyone but for me it was when Agora was up 90% of the time and Hydrocodone was still schedule 3 and half the price.

And Coin.mx, yeah their fees were retarded and you had to submit a video of your face + ID + debit card, but you could send straight to market because they were crooked as fuck.


[2 Points] Oldladyraper:

It goes in waves. BMR was some damn good times. Agora had a good run. But the best of times were before vice and other mainstream news outlets did reports on the Markets. You could order without a care in the world.


[1 Points] Asdfzxcv101:

Relax, it's only becoming more popular. With the rise of popularity with bitcoin and the dnm. As LE wise up their ways so do the criminals. It's been like this for years. Remember, people have been shipping things before the dnm was around. I think we let our guards down because we talk about it so freely here.


[1 Points] uplifting-news:

Now that socienty is starting to become more open minded and people keep requesting the legalization of drugs I don't understand why governments don't just give in... Does LE need the jobs to keep themselves busy?


[1 Points] Kazaa99:

So far most marketplaces have been poorly made, missing many features and not been up to the full potential a darknet site could be.

Some day we will start seeing proper marketplaces with loads of features, nice CSS3 graphics and plenty of new unthought of security steps.. One glorious day.. I hope it will be soon :)


[1 Points] jjdrop:

Hurry during this you may realize the darknetmarkets isn't the first FuckiNG black market ever fuck


[1 Points] aboutthednm:

Everything is going to shit. We need good professional vendors who treat their products like a simple high margin commodity and know their line of work.

I have only one encounter in my days where I can still speak highly of the vendor after business is dealt with.

Virtually everyone is all happy smiles until they get your money.


[1 Points] MLP_is_my_OPSEC:

OpenBazaar keeps being postponed.

OpenBazaar will never work for this community. Vendors would need to host their own nodes, and users would need to download and set up the store browser. Just not going to happen.

Am I being pessimistic, or do you also sense a negative trend in how the DNM scene has evolved recently?

There's been no evolution in the past year or so, it's stagnated. Nobody wants to innovate anything any more. They just want fast cash. Lately I've been seeing and understanding more about why /u/gwern left. It's boring now.


[1 Points] throwawayk5zq47j6wd3:

I used to be very optimistic about the DNMs but with so many people pushing it on reddit through other subreddits, online, and through the media we've seen a lot of issues with dipshits coming in and making this "underground" scene more mainstream and hot.

I'm truly scarred if LE comes in and actually does something to Tor and the DNMs.. but I don't think so. If LE does do something we'll all come back and do something different, something better.