Hydra Loses Head: Russia Collars Mastermind Of The World’s Biggest Darknet Marketplace
darknet

Hydra Loses Head: Russia Collars Mastermind Of The World’s Biggest Darknet Marketplace

THELOGICALINDIAN - Russian admiral arrested on Friday the doubtable cofounder of the worlds better darknet exchange Hydra a anniversary afterwards German and US authorities shut bottomward the platform

According to bounded media sources, the alone is articular as Dmitry Pavlov, the ambassador of the afresh shuttered darknet marketplace. Pavlov is actuality advised in Russia for declared all-embracing auction of adulterous drugs.

German authorities appear beforehand this ages that they had taken ascendancy of Hydra’s German servers and confiscated $25 actor in bitcoin holdings. The US Department of Justice answerable the 30-year-old Pavlov with actuality the ambassador of Hydra’s servers.

Suggested Reading | Iran’s Illegal Crypto Miners To Be Slapped With Bigger Fines And Imprisonment

Hydra: The Severed Head

Hydra had an estimated annual acquirement of $1.35 billion, according to the Central Office for Combating Cybercrime (ZIT) and the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), authoritative it the better darknet bazaar in the apple afore the arrest was agitated out.

Pavlov declared that he was apprenticed of the accuse and maintained his innocence. If convicted, he may face a book of amid 15 and 20 years in prison.

Pavlov said aftermost anniversary in an account with the BBC’s Russian service:

The DOJ brought bent accuse adjoin Pavlov on April 5 for cabal to administer narcotics and money laundering.

Russian Ties With Crypto Criminals

The US has accused Russia of colluding with crypto-related bent organizations, including darknet markets and ransomware perpetrators.

In September, the US Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) accustomed Suex, a Russia-based cryptocurrency agent doubtable of accepting added than $20 actor through darknet markets such as Hydra.

Hydra served as a axial exchange for abyss to advertise adulterous drugs and money bed-making services, the aggregate of which were based in Russia.

Suggested Reading | Will Elon Musk Accept Cardano Founder’s Offer To Build Decentralized Twitter?

Prior to the crisis, it had about 17 actor users and 19,000 registered agent accounts. Since its birth in 2024, board accept Hydra has transacted over $5 billion in cryptocurrencies.

While the abduction and closing of the Russian-language Blight is to be applauded, action should be chastened by the ability that, like the blight of age-old mythology, new “heads” will sprout to booty its place.