Germany Police Shut Down 'Darknet' Platform, Seize $25 Million of Bitcoin

BERLIN (AP) – German investigators on Tuesday shut down a Russian-language darknet marketplace that they say specialized in drug dealing, seizing bitcoin worth 23 million euros ($25.3 million).

Prosecutors in Frankfurt described the “Hydra Market” platform as the world’s biggest illegal darknet marketplace. They said they seized its server infrastructure in Germany.

The shutdown was the result of investigations underway since August, in which U.S. authorities participated.

The platform had been active at least since 2015, prosecutors said. They added that, as well as illegal drugs, forged documents, intercepted data and “digital services” were offered for sale. They said that it had about 17 million registered customer accounts and more than 19,000 registered sellers.

Prosecutors said the platform had sales of at least 1.23 billion euros in 2020.