Darknet operator Joker’s Stash for selling bank card data announced its closure next month. According to Gemini Advisory, the site’s revenue was over $ 1 billion in BTC.
Joker’s Stash was founded in 2014. It was originally a small operator, but over time has become one of the largest darknet markets. Joker’s Stash linked the attackers to the providers of illicit credit card information, codes and billing addresses.
The market for stolen cards is a pretty big business. According to Gemini Advisory, in the second half of 2019, more than 76.2 million stolen cards got into the darknet markets, and in the first half of 2020 there were 43 million. Many of them were traded on Joker’s Stash.
According to Gemini Advisory experts, Joker’s Stash data providers managed to earn more than $ 1 billion in BTC from their “services”. A certain part of the “earnings” was taken by the Joker’s Stash operators. Among them was a user under the pseudonym Joker, who announced the closure of the site.
“The Joker is retiring. Joker’s Stash is closing. It’s time to leave forever, ”the site operator said in a statement.
Recently, Joker’s Stash users began to complain about the poor quality of the stolen information, as most of the cards were “no longer functional”. Given that the darknet model is based on trust, bad reviews about Joker’s Stash have led to the site losing popularity.
In addition, the FBI confiscated Joker’s Stash blockchain domains and addresses last year. Operators resumed the site shortly thereafter. In October, Joker announced that he had contracted the coronavirus and was hospitalized. This could also contribute to a decrease in sales on the site and a further drop in its popularity.
Gemini Advisory researchers believe that the closure of Joker’s Stash will not stop trading in stolen bank data and will not affect the shadow economy of this market. With a high degree of probability, information providers will move to other dark web sites.
Recall that last week, the German police shut down more than 20 servers of the DarkMarket platform, one of the largest darknet markets. In addition, last month, the Finnish Customs Service and Europol closed the darknet site Sipulimarket and confiscated its assets.
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