Mike Power, writing for VICE:
Just over two weeks ago, on the 26th of March, hundreds of thousands of people worldwide logged on to the dark net market site, Dream, and found the following message:
[This market is shutting down on 04/30/2019 and is transferring its services to a partner company, onion address: [REDACTED] onion (currently offline, opening soon)]
All buying and selling on Dream (the largest, longest-running and most-used dark net market) had been halted. Most vendors and users have, however, been able to access the site and withdraw funds. But when it shuts for good at the end of the month, it will mark the closure of hundreds of thousands of listings generating millions of dollars in trade each week.
The move has left customers, observers and dealers wondering whether Dream’s closure could mark a shift in the way the dark web is used to buy and sell drugs. There is talk of a mysterious new and yet-to-open partner site, but many are wondering whether this could be a honeypot devised by the authorities.
Something seems a bit off here.