Cypher Market is a smaller darknet market that has been around for about a year but failed to gain much attention from the larger community. It is currently home to slightly over 3,000 listings; half of which are for drugs and the other are the usual guides and software/malware listings that can be found at all the other markets. While product and vendor selection are limited, they do have enough vendors to cover the world’s main markets (North America, EU, and Australia).
Cypher Market Link – http://6c5qaeiibh6ggmobsrv6vuilgb5uzjejpt2n3inoz2kv2sgzocymdvyd.onion
For a complete guide on Cypher Market please visit here.
One nice thing about Cypher is the particularly easy registration process, which simply requires the creation of a username and password. Their captchas are among the simplest, and page loading times are among the fastest. They also feature a rarely-seen “Latest Orders” section in the lower left panel of the main market screen that displays the last purchases made by buyers on the market. Because Cypher is small, they have waived the vendor bond for vendors with over 200 sales on other markets. The market has yet to pick up as much traction as the competition but shows no signs of slowing down.
Product Selection
Cypher’s listings are divided into the following categories: Drugs, Hosting & Security, Counterfeit, Software & Malware, Guides & Tutorials, and Other. Of these, Drugs is by far the most popular. Browsing listings on this market is a bit peculiar in that you must first enter a search term and press the “Search” button before the filter selection can be found. After this point, you can further refine your search by product type, shipping locations, and price range.
Payment Methods
Cypher Market supports both Bitcoin (BTC) and Monero (XMR), though some vendors may only accept one coin. Contrary to traditional markets, Cypher does not have an account wallet system and handles all payments on a per-order basis. This means you don’t have to preload your wallet before initiating a purchase. Rather, payment is made only at the time of order. It is then held by the market and released after the order is finalized by the buyer. It’s a bit unnerving that Cypher insists buyers rely upon the market to encrypt shipping information. Other than that, they employ about as ideal a payment system as one can hope for.
Cypher Market Pros
- Easy, quick registration process.
- No central account/wallet system.
- Fast page loading times.
Cypher Market Cons
- Limited vendor and listing selection.
- Doesn’t seem concerned with user OpSec.
- Relatively difficult to navigate, awkward search function.
In all, it’s hard to say for sure why Cipher hasn’t taken off compared to other markets. Maybe the lack of sophisticated search features throws users off; maybe the complete reliance on per-order payments throws a wrench in the ease of use for certain customers. It could be that the market feels a little light on design and like not as much time was put into its creation as some others. Not emphasizing self-encryption of sensitive information isn’t necessarily confidence-inspiring either. Regardless, the market has been around for over a year now and has managed to attract a small but consistent user base within that time.
Cypher Market URL – http://6c5qaeiibh6ggmobsrv6vuilgb5uzjejpt2n3inoz2kv2sgzocymdvyd.onion
