Hydra sellers devise ‘buried caches’ system for anonymous Bitcoin withdrawals

Hydra darknet marketplace vendors cash out cryptocurrency through ‘buried caches’ — burying cash in vacuum-sealed packaging underground. This was reported by Elliptic, an analytics company.

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The service is offered on Russian soil, and experts believe it allows Hydra clients to withdraw large sums in cryptocurrency, avoiding law enforcement attention.

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“This is an interesting way to cash out that people are starting to use,” said Tom Robinson, CEO of Elliptic.

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In one listing, the seller proposes burying cash in vacuum-sealed packaging at a depth of ‘5–20 cm’ underground. The buyer would receive precise GPS coordinates of the ‘treasure’ and could dig it up at a convenient time. The commission for the service is about 7% of the amount.

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“Russian darknet markets are quite innovative,” says Patrick Shortis, a cybercrime expert at the University of Manchester. “They do not use encryption, mixers, or anonymous cryptocurrencies as in the West. They feel more relaxed under the threat from the state, and the ‘drop’ method is most convenient for them.”

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Hydra accounted for 75% of all darknet revenue in 2020. The platform ranked among the top-10 cryptocurrency marketplaces by turnover, surpassing Kraken, OKEx and Poloniex.

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As reported in December 2019, Hydra announced plans to create a transnational decentralized marketplace for the sale of prohibited goods, Eternos.

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The development was planned to be funded through an ICO, offering 49% of the project’s tokenized stake for sale.

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In June 2020, the marketplace postponed its launch indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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In November 2020, Hydra employees gained access to a marketplace for exchanging cryptocurrency. Ordinary users did not gain access to the new feature.

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