MONOPOLY MARKET: CASHING IN ON THE EASE OF SELLING DRUGS ONLINE
The emergence of cryptomarkets has changed the way people buy and sell illicit drugs. Studying cryptomarkets provides us with unprecedented insights in both the demand and supply side, including what kind of illicit drugs people consume or how sellers respond to law enforcement activities. This article explains how Monopoly Market, a small drug cryptomarket, operates. To achieve this, a custom-built webscraper was developed to collect data on vendors, products and reviews. The results indicated that the majority of the transactions originated from the US and the UK and mainly involved domestic purchases. Cannabis-related products and synthetic drugs including (meth)amphetamine and MDMA were the most commonly sold products. Specific attention was also given to unraveling the role of COVID-19 on the functioning of Monopoly Market. The pandemic did not seem to have impacted the supply in a negative way as most packages have been delivered (on time). Yet, it created opportunities for vendors to strengthen their customer focus and marketing strategies. The results indicate that drug cryptomarkets, regardless of their size, are quite similar in their functioning although they might be less subject to fluctuations due to external conditions that disrupt their operation, such as a health pandemic. However, more detailed and multimethod research is needed.