Emergence and structure of decentralised trade networks around dark web marketplaces

Nadini, Matthieu; Bracci, Alberto; ElBahrawy, Abeer; Gradwell, Philip; Teytelboym, Alexander; Baronchelli, Andrea

doi:10.1038/s41598-022-07492-x

Cited by 12 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…The diffusion of illicit vaccines on DWMs, together with the simultaneous decrease of PPEs and medicines, confirms the link between product shortages, public attention and listings on DWMs. This phenomenon has the potential to pose a serious public health threat, as DWMs have become increasingly easier to access, resilient to police closures [ 16 ] and shown to be a catalyst for decentralized peer to peer trading between buyers and sellers of illicit items [ 34 ]. The purchase of unregulated, and possibly fraudulent, health related items on DWMs poses a concrete health risk for the buyers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Law enforcement agencies have successfully closed several DWMs, seizing millions of USD, and performing dozen of arrests [27][28][29][30][31][32][33]. However, DWMs are intrinsically resilient to these interventions [16], also thanks to the emergence of decentralized trade around them [34], and 2020 has been a record year for their revenue [35,36].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Vaccines and more: The response of Dark Web marketplaces to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic

et al. 2022

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Early analyses revealed that dark web marketplaces (DWMs) started offering COVID-19 related products (e.g., masks and COVID-19 tests) as soon as the COVID-19 pandemic started, when these goods were in shortage in the traditional economy. Here, we broaden the scope and depth of previous investigations by considering how DWMs responded to an ongoing pandemic after the initial shock. Our dataset contains listings from 194 DWMs collected until July 2021. We start by focusing on vaccines. We find 248 listings offering approved vaccines, like Pfizer/BioNTech and AstraZeneca, as well as vendors offering fabricated proofs of vaccination and COVID-19 passports. Then, we consider COVID-19 related products. We show that, as the regular economy has become able to satisfy the demand of these goods, DWMs have decreased their offer. Next, we analyse the profile of vendors of COVID-19 related products and vaccines. We find that most of them are specialized in a single type of listings and are willing to ship worldwide. Finally, we consider a broader set of listings mentioning COVID-19, in order to assess the general impact of the pandemic on the broader activity of DWMs. Among 10,330 such listings, we show that recreational drugs are the most affected among traditional DWMs product, with COVID-19 mentions steadily increasing since March 2020. We anticipate that our results will be of interest to researchers, practitioners, and law enforcement agencies focused on the study and safeguard of public health.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vaccines and more: The response of Dark Web marketplaces to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic

et al. 2022

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“…Notably, these methods rely on scalable algorithms meaning that our approach can be applied to study sizeable currency systems where transaction data is recorded in digital form. This includes other community currencies 6,16,17,21 as well as major global cryptocurrencies 19,20,26,40 . Recent methodological advances 10,52 promise to extend applicability also to payment systems that are not themselves full currency systems, such as mobile money systems 10,53,54 , large value payment systems [55][56][57][58][59][60][61] , major banks 12,[62][63][64] , and, in an exciting development, centralized national payment infrastructures [65][66][67] or central bank digital currencies 68 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The full transaction histories of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can be reconstructed from public ledgers [23][24][25] . Bitcoin transactions reveal a currency system that supports substantial trade outside centralized marketplaces, but where inequality has been increasing over time 19,26 . Sarafu, the currency considered in this work, is a "Community Inclusion Currency" (CIC) that incorporates elements of both community currencies and cryptocurrencies 27 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Circulation of a digital community currency

Mattsson¹,

Criscione²,

Takes³

2022

Preprint

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Circulation is the characteristic feature of successful currency systems, from community currencies to cryptocurrencies to national currencies. In this paper, we propose a network analysis methodology for studying circulation given a system's digital transaction records. This is applied to Sarafu, a digital community currency active in Kenya over a period that saw considerable economic disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Representing Sarafu as a network of monetary flow among the 40,000 users reveals meaningful patterns at multiple scales. Circulation was highly modular, geographically localized, and occurring among users with diverse livelihoods. Network centrality highlights women's participation, early adopters, and the especially prominent role of community-based financial institutions. These findings have concrete implications for humanitarian and development policy, helping articulate when community currencies might best support interventions in marginalized areas. Overall, networks of monetary flow allow for studying circulation within digital currency systems at a striking level of detail.

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Circulation of a digital community currency

Mattsson

Criscione

Takes

2023

Sci Rep

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Circulation is the characteristic feature of successful currency systems, from community currencies to cryptocurrencies to national currencies. In this paper, we propose a network analysis approach especially suited for studying circulation given a system’s digital transaction records. Sarafu is a digital community currency that was active in Kenya over a period that saw considerable economic disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We represent its circulation as a network of monetary flow among the 40,000 Sarafu users. Network flow analysis reveals that circulation was highly modular, geographically localized, and occurring among users with diverse livelihoods. Across localized sub-populations, network cycle analysis supports the intuitive notion that circulation requires cycles. Moreover, the sub-networks underlying circulation are consistently degree disassortative and we find evidence of preferential attachment. Community-based institutions often take on the role of local hubs, and network centrality measures confirm the importance of early adopters and of women’s participation. This work demonstrates that networks of monetary flow enable the study of circulation within currency systems at a striking level of detail, and our findings can be used to inform the development of community currencies in marginalized areas.

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Emergence and structure of decentralised trade networks around dark web marketplaces

Cited by 12 publications

References 32 publications

Vaccines and more: The response of Dark Web marketplaces to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic

Vaccines and more: The response of Dark Web marketplaces to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic

Circulation of a digital community currency

Circulation of a digital community currency

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