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Policy

German Authorities Shut Down Russian Darknet Market, Seize $25M in Bitcoin

The Hydra Market's bitcoin privacy mixer complicated the investigation, police said.

By Eliza Gkritsi
AccessTimeIconApr 5, 2022 at 9:35 a.m. UTC
Updated May 11, 2023 at 6:19 p.m. UTC
(Adam Levine/CoinDesk)
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German authorities seized $25 million in bitcoin (BTC) as they shut down Hydra Market, saying they had closed one of the world's largest darknet markets.

  • The cybercrime office of the Frankfurt prosecutor's office and federal criminal police confiscated 543 BTC as they "secured" the site's servers, according to a federal police statement on Tuesday.
  • Federal police found 17 million customers and 19,000 seller accounts. Hydra Market probably had the highest turnover among illegal marketplaces in the world, according to the statement. In 2020, the marketplace had €1.23 billion ($1.35 billion) in revenue, the police said.
  • The Russian-language marketplace also had a built-in bitcoin privacy mixer, which complicated tracing the transactions, said the police statement.
  • Hydra Market had been operating since 2015 and was accessible via the Tor browser. The site has been taken off the internet.
  • The market was mainly used for narcotics, and served Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Moldova, according to blockchain forensics firm Ciphertrace.
  • The investigation started in August 2021 and also involved U.S. authorities, the police said.

Read more: International Police Seize $4.9M in Crypto From Alleged Darknet Drug Traffickers



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CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. In November 2023, CoinDesk was acquired by the Bullish group, owner of Bullish, a regulated, digital assets exchange. The Bullish group is majority-owned by Block.one; both companies have interests in a variety of blockchain and digital asset businesses and significant holdings of digital assets, including bitcoin. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary with an editorial committee to protect journalistic independence. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive options in the Bullish group as part of their compensation.

Eliza Gkritsi
Eliza Gkritsi

Eliza Gkritsi is a CoinDesk contributor focused on the intersection of crypto and AI.

Follow @egreechee on Twitter

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