When the FBI seized the Silk Road 2 and other popular darknet markets, it was a dark day for people who buy illegal shit online. But it turned out to be a great day for Evolution, the largest market that didn’t get shut down in the raid.
Research from the Digital Citizens Alliance confirms that Evolution is now the most popular darknet market:
The seizure of Silk Road 2.0 and several other sizeable competitors has benefited one site in particular, Evolution Marketplace. While both Evolution and Agora Marketplace had overtaken Silk Road 2.0 at the time of its seizure, Evolution has seen explosive growth in the month since the seizures and is now by far the largest Darknet Marketplace. Evolution has a current market share of 45% of the drug listings and 52% of total listings. Evolution is by far the leader in fraud related activity with a large section devoted to credit card fraud and identity theft.
Agora might have seen similarly prodigious growth, but the darknet lost customers when its deposit and withdrawal system experienced glitches after the raids. Agora is still the second-most popular option for darknet markets, with competitors like Nucleus and Middle Earth marketplace trailing far behind in terms of size. So for now, the Silk Road’s nastier, weapons-shilling successor is Evolution. [Digital Citizens Alliance]