Why The Deep Web Will Continue To Grow Part 1

Posted by: Greg Miller

December 2, 2014

All the parts: #DeepWebGrow

When the Silk Road was shut down, the victory call was ringed loudly by those for the war on drugs and a Bitcoin community that, increasingly, wants to be distanced from the deep web, especially the Silk Road. People wanted the whole online drug trade to be over with and took this as a opportunity to free themselves from worrying about such a thing.

Shortly after though, many articles pop up, such as “The Silk Road Is Dead. Long Live The Silk Road.” One of the main focuses of the article was that the number of product listings have grown since demise of the Silk Road. A shocking and for most, counterintuitive, fact. It won’t end there though. The deep web will continue to grow to even greater sizes and here is why.

Losing The Game Of Whack-A-Mole

People were shocked that the deep web only grew after the demise of the Silk Road but anyone thinking about the fallout of such a event, it would only make sense. The Silk Road was the biggest and most successful marketplace of its time and had a strong market dominance. There isn’t much of a point to starting your own marketplace, since going against the Silk Road would be an uphill battle. Then, the opportunity of a lifetime came. The Silk Road got shut down. Not only that, but it turned out that Dead Pirate Roberts made millions of dollars (in Bitcoin)! Showing that was a lot of money to be made running a online drug marketplace.

The market was left right open and the FBI’s “impressive” capture of DPR’s funds showed the world there was a lot of money to be made. As a result more and more people became very interested in becoming a marketplace owner or deep web dealer themselves. This has led to more options in products and marketplaces than ever before.

The world also glazed over the very important fact that despite the head of the Silk Road and several big time dealers and admins got taken down, the remaining users and dealers of the Silk Road didn’t go anywhere and why should they? Where else are they going to get rare and high quality drugs? How could someone who has been dealing exclusively on the deep web quickly and easily change to street dealing? Why would why want to deal with all the extra work and worry that comes with street dealing?

The users of the Silk Road weren’t solely dependent on the Silk Road. The loss of the Silk Road did come as a big blow to the community but they marched. There was a community that formed through the Silk Road but was strong to continue to live on. It lived on because they were invested and not going back. Buyers and sellers have become accustomed to the ways of the deep web. Pampered with the convenience, protection and quality of the deep web. They had found friends and a community that they could lend on for support and rally with against the War on Drugs. The site was simply code that facilitated this. While the loss of DPR left a more devastated blow, many new marketplaces popped up and gained more popularity. Things were back to usual, expect now the world was started to pay attention to the gem that existed in the darker corners of the deep web and they were, at least secretly, curious.

The Advantages

The advantages of the deep web will win over buyers from the traditional drug trade and attract new buyers, new to the drug trade. Deep web obviously offers many advantages for the traditional selling and buying of drugs. Tor, Tails, PGP, and Bitcoin offer a level of protection from the police, and dealers. That level of protection cannot be found in the streets. You could carry around a gun or knife but that still means you have to fight and possibly kill someone to save your own skin. That is a horrible prospect that most would like to avoid.

In the traditional drug sale, you need to go through the ordeal of finding a contact. You would need to call a contact (your contact might need to call his own contact) and then you get your car to go to a location to pick up your dope. A hasten and unpleasant interaction ensues as the dealer tries to hurry the process as fast as possible. Now, you need to drive back home, so you have a place where you can relax and get high. This wastes time, money and patience.

The quality and variety of the drugs on the deep web can’t be matched. The traditional drug trade suffers from many problems. Street dealers are at the low end of the chain and after the drugs have thousands of miles, they very little say in quality or type of the drugs. This leaves most buyers with low quality and few options when it comes to drugs. The logistics and price of moving the drugs makes this problem a hard to solve. In digital black markets of the deep web, drugs are sold on a more individual basis and thus the consumer can act more on his presence. The competition of a global marketplace results in the best quality drugs being sold.

More and more people from the traditional drug trade will switch and start buying online. The more and more they hear about it and start to understand it, they will start to flock. Besides, current users, the advantages of the deep web will open the drug trade to new users, that wouldn’t start buying drugs without the deep web. Nerdy people, who don’t have and can’t get the contacts, will find the deep web much more convenient. They extra protection the deep web offers will allow them to feel more comfortable with the process. They don’t need to know anybody, just how to use it. They might of been curious about drugs but obstacles stop them from trying. When they find about the deep web, their curiosity will reignite and seize the opportunity.

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Updated: 2014-12-02