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Black Market Reloaded, the most prominent competitor to Silk Road in the growing world of Tor marketplaces, processed 16,000 new registrations last month, making January its biggest month ever for new registrations, according to its founder backopy. November and January stand as the busiest trading months by volume in US dollars and bitcoins.
There are 5,514 items publicly available on Black Market Reloaded at this moment compared to 3,391 on Silk Road. It’s important to note that a significant chunk of items available cannot be seen by the public on Silk Road. Vendors on Silk Road can and often do choose to go into “stealth mode” to sell privately to their established customers rather than publicly. This helps them avoid unwanted notoriety and the torrent of orders that a “superstar seller” is likely to receive.
Backopy is making a habit of releasing statistics every few months.
Black Market Reloaded has taken the formula that made Silk Road successful and expanded upon it, allowing sales in categories such as weapons and data that Silk Road forbids. Silk Road’s founder, Dread Pirate Roberts, has made the choice to avoid these sales categories.
“Practically speaking, there are many powerful adversaries of Silk Road and if we are to survive, we must not take them all on at once,” reads the Silk Road Seller’s Guide. Although it began as a limitless market, Black Market Reloaded has implemented at least some regulations. Assassinations, for instance, are not allowed on the market because the category attracts too many scammers.
BMR users responded enthusiastically to the new statistics.
“This is the place to be,” wrote user organix, a vendor who has been a part of the site since last July. “I noticed myself that the last few months business was building up and this month its gone way up. SR seems to always be on the verge of falling apart or you can’t get on it. Let sr take the publicity and let le focus on them. The graph doesn’t show new vendor registrations but i’m sure thats up too. I remember when listings on drugs were a few hundred and now its over 2600.”
“Yeah this is sweet,” wrote John Eod, a newer member. “I have only been on here a few months (5) but have seen a steady increase in action. All my transactions have gone great so far too, now just looking forward to even more venders selling even more good stuff!! Really looking for some liquid lsd if anybody out there has it.”
