Evolution (marketplace)

{{Infobox website

| name = Evolution

| logo = Evolution_Marketplace_Logo.png

| logo_size = 106px

| logocaption =

| screenshot =

| collapsible =

| collapsetext =

| caption =

| url = {{Onion defunct|k5zq47j6wd3wdvjq}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.reddit.com/r/EvolutionMarket|title=Reddit - Dive into anything|access-date=2017-08-23|archive-date=2015-03-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150310112205/http://www.reddit.com/r/EvolutionMarket|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.gwern.net/DNM%20survival|title=Darknet Market mortality risks|date=30 October 2013|last1=Branwen|first1=Gwern|access-date=23 August 2017|archive-date=23 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170823121504/https://www.gwern.net/DNM%20survival|url-status=live}}

| commercial = Yes

| type = Darknet market

| registration = Required

| language = English

| num_users =

| content_license =

| owner = Verto

| author =

| editor =

| launch_date = December 2014

| alexa =

| revenue =

| current_status = Offline

| footnotes =

}}

File:Evolution vendor category relationships.png

Evolution was a darknet market operating on the Tor network. The site was founded by an individual known as "Verto" who also founded the now defunct Tor Carding Forum.{{cite news|last1=|title=The Most Dangerous People on the Internet Right Now|url=https://www.wired.com/2015/01/dangerous-people-internet-right-now/|access-date=1 August 2015|date=1 January 2015|archive-date=22 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122030952/https://www.wired.com/2015/01/dangerous-people-internet-right-now/|url-status=live}} Evolution was active between 14 January 2014 and mid-March 2015.{{Cite thesis|url=https://gwern.net/doc/darknet-market/evolution/2020-shan.pdf|last=Shan|first=Sylvester|title=Behavioral Profiling of Darknet Marketplace Vendors|degree=Bachelor of Advanced Computing (Honours)|publisher=The Australian National University|year=2024}}

History

Launched January 14, 2014, it saw rapid growth within its first several months, helped in part by law enforcement seizures of some of its competitors during the six-month-long investigation codenamed Operation Onymous.{{cite web|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/police-shut-down-over-400-deep-web-sites-as-part-of-operation-onymous-2014-11?r=US|title=More Details Emerge Of How Police Shut Down Over 400 Deep Web Marketplaces As Part Of 'Operation Onymous'|publisher=UK Business Insider|author=James Cook|date=7 November 2014|access-date=9 November 2014|archive-date=9 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141109063517/http://uk.businessinsider.com/police-shut-down-over-400-deep-web-sites-as-part-of-operation-onymous-2014-11?r=US|url-status=live}} Speaking about why Evolution was not part of Operation Onymous, the head of the European police cybercrimes division said it was "because there's only so much we can do on one day."{{cite web|title=Raids on underground 'Darknet' websites|work=DW|date=7 November 2014|url=http://www.dw.de/raids-on-underground-darknet-websites/a-18048251|access-date=11 November 2014|archive-date=12 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141112020103/http://www.dw.de/raids-on-underground-darknet-websites/a-18048251|url-status=live}} Wired estimated that {{as of|2014|11|lc=y}} it was one of the two largest drug markets.{{cite magazine|magazine=Wired|title=Not Just Silk Road 2: Feds Seize Two Other Drug Markets and Counting|last=Greenberg|first=Andy|date=6 November 2014|url=https://www.wired.com/2014/11/dark-web-seizures/|access-date=6 March 2017|archive-date=9 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141109100828/http://www.wired.com/2014/11/dark-web-seizures|url-status=live}}{{cite magazine|magazine=Wired|date=18 September 2014|title=The Dark Web Gets Darker With Rise of the 'Evolution' Drug Market|last=Greenberg|first=Andy|url=https://www.wired.com/2014/09/dark-web-evolution/|access-date=24 May 2015|archive-date=15 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150515084600/http://www.wired.com/2014/09/dark-web-evolution|url-status=live}}

Evolution was similar to other darknet markets in its prohibitions, disallowing "child pornography, services related to murder/assassination/terrorism, prostitution, ponzi schemes, and lotteries". Where it most prominently differed was in its more lax rules concerning stolen credit cards and others kinds of fraud, permitting, for example, the wholesaling of credit card data.{{cite web|title=Evolution Replaces Silk Road as New Online Drug Market|url=http://www.thefix.com/content/evolution-replaces-silk-road-new-online-drug-market|date=23 September 2014|last=McCluskey|first=Brent|work=The Fix|access-date=11 November 2014|archive-date=4 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141204223733/http://www.thefix.com/content/evolution-replaces-silk-road-new-online-drug-market|url-status=live}}

Shut down

In mid-March 2015, administrators froze its users escrow accounts, disallowing withdrawals, citing technical difficulties.{{cite magazine|magazine=Wired|last=Greenberg|first=Andy|title=The Dark Web's Top Drug Market, Evolution, Just Vanished|date=18 March 2015|url=https://www.wired.com/2015/03/evolution-disappeared-bitcoin-scam-dark-web/|access-date=3 September 2016|archive-date=5 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150705173147/http://www.wired.com/2015/03/evolution-disappeared-bitcoin-scam-dark-web/|url-status=live}} Evolution had earned a reputation not just for its security, but also for its professionalism and reliability, with an uptime rate much higher than its competition.{{cite web|work=The Conversation|url=http://theconversation.com/despite-darknet-drug-market-arrests-and-seizures-can-they-be-stopped-33867|title=Despite Darknet drug market arrests and seizures, can they be stopped?|last=Glance|first=David|date=9 November 2014 |access-date=2014-11-11|archive-date=2014-11-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141111223523/https://theconversation.com/despite-darknet-drug-market-arrests-and-seizures-can-they-be-stopped-33867|url-status=live}} Partly for that reason, when the site went offline a few days later, on March 18, the user community panicked. The shut down was discovered to be an exit scam, with the operators of the site shutting down abruptly in order to steal the approximately $12 million in bitcoins it was holding as escrow.{{cite web|last1=Krebs|first1=Brian|title=Dark Web's 'Evolution Market' Vanishes|url=https://krebsonsecurity.com/2015/03/dark-webs-evolution-market-vanishes/|website=Krebs on Security|access-date=2015-03-18|date=2015-03-18|archive-date=2015-03-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150318124822/http://krebsonsecurity.com/2015/03/dark-webs-evolution-market-vanishes/|url-status=live}}{{cite news|last1=Woolf|first1=Nicky|title=Bitcoin 'exit scam': deep-web market operators disappear with $12m|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/mar/18/bitcoin-deep-web-evolution-exit-scam-12-million-dollars|access-date=2015-03-18|work=The Guardian|date=2015-03-18|archive-date=2015-03-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150318221745/http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/mar/18/bitcoin-deep-web-evolution-exit-scam-12-million-dollars|url-status=live}}

Evolution (marketplace)

History

Shut down

See also

References

Further reading