During the shutdowns, the increase in media coverage makes the cryptomarkets even more famous and popular which suggests that measures taken by law enforcement agencies are, in the end, counterproductive. These new websites take advantage of the re-building process to reshape and strengthen the security protocol, ensuring a better anonymization for users. On the contrary, in a long-term perspective, these operations could be described as a moderate success for law enforcement agencies because their actions contribute to the development of other, far more numerous websites. In a short-term perspective, these operations are a success because all transactions are blocked, de facto reducing online activity. The legacy of the “War on Drugs” still permeates the methods chosen to curtail online trafficking: in the different operations they launched, agencies systematically shut down all the platforms. These agencies wanted and still want to limit and, if possible, annihilate the drug trade on cryptomarkets. Tor which was originally created by the American Office of Naval Research and further developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), with the help of Electronic Frontier Foundation, Knight Foundation and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. The law enforcement agencies were aware of websites e.g. They sometimes shared a similar libertarian ethos which triggered the development of online communities. The people who were familiar with those websites had or gained skills in the technological sector. At the beginning, only a few people knew of the existence of websites located on the Dark Net where it was quite easy to sell and buy drugs. Later on, the actions taken by law enforcement agencies, especially American ones, brought to light the growing trend of people doing business online.
Cryptomarkets are a new phenomenon which gained visibility following a progressive mediatisation, started by the article “The Underground Website Where You Can Buy Any Drug Imaginable” written by Adrian Chen and published on Gawker.
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