Ares Darknet Cryptomarket: My Experience Testing

I dug into rumors surrounding the Ares Market, assessing this aspiring destination for those seeking underground dealings beyond the reach of authorities. Here is what I discovered across two months of hands-on trials as both essential contexts and cautionary tales emerge from obscurity.

The Basics Around the Ares Market and My Evaluation Approach

Launched on onion link accessible here by anonymous developers, Ares brands itself as an innovator focused on user experience, privacy, and multi-platform support.

I systematically tested core user journeys to judge marketed claims against functionality:

• Vendor inventory and product offerings
• Anonymity protections viability
• Account creation, purchases and withdrawal processes
• Administrator attentiveness to disputes and incidents

Hopefully this framework helps fellow explorers determine if tangible progress exists or hype outpaces reality as so often seen in these parts. Now let’s examine findings.

Scoping the Product Listings Currently Available on Ares

While the marketplace itself may spark intrigue, pragmatic visitors focus foremost on the wares – so what commodities can one presently procure from Ares vendors?

Fraud Offerings

As expected, fraud dominates many dark web channels. On Ares, offer varied services for carding, identity theft, and engineering social scams. However, the fraud section remains relatively understocked currently, though adulterated documents see some assortment.

Narcotics Inventory

Narcotics fare much better in both diversity and volume with the typical mix of cannabis, stimulants, opioids etc. Buyers can locate most mainstream formulations, albeit primarily marketed in bulk batch sizes.

Hacking Tools and Exploits

Rounding out the common troika, Ares provides a crop of hacking tools, exploits, botnets, and stolen data dumps. But niches like hardware keyloggers prove more elusive among predominantly malware and DDoS offerings.

I easily found traditional categories but struggle sourcing bespoke craftwork – reflecting the onboarding early development stage as Ares attempts recruiting specialized artisans.

Account Setup and Transaction Testing on Ares

Before weighing risks, I decided to directly register and run test transactions through the Ares Marketplace firsthand:

Registration

Downloading Tor for access, account creation only demanded providing a username, password, and PGP key.

Test Orders

I browsed cannabis products but most promoted bulk sizes rather than sample listings friendlier for minor test purchases from unproven vendors.

Withdrawals

I successfully cashed out a fraction of a Bitcoin from my account after applying 2FA and the marketplace PIN.

While the user journey seems adequate given infancy, limited new buyer test options create friction. Admins would benefit addressing through policy adjustments.

Funding My Ares Market Wallet

Before transacting, I first needed to deposit cryptocurrency into my account. The process worked as follows:

1. Accessed my account and clicked “Add Funds” next to my BTC balance.
2. Copied the generated Bitcoin wallet address into an external exchange or wallet service.
3. Initiated transfer of funds choosing a small test amount of 0.0025 BTC.
4. After 30 minutes and 1 confirmation on the Bitcoin network, funds reflected in my Ares balance, available to support test purchases.

I could then browse listings with some buying power in my account for product testing. The deposit itself functioned smoothly. However, confirmations introduce delays unlike direct coin swaps available on some competing markets. But necessary tradeoffs likely exist accepting only privacy coins or leveraging mixers natively on Ares.

Vetting the Security Precautions and Trust Mechanisms

Any anonymous transactions warrant heightened scrutiny – so what assurances exist minimizing threats?

Ares administrators tout extensive infrastructure monitoring, dispute vetting and communal trust building. But skepticism brews around scaling. No major incidents tarnished the brand yet, but longevity remains the ultimate test.

Final Analysis: A Promising Upstart or Pretender?

Pros

• Modern codebase and aesthetics
• Commits supporting community trust
• Some technical anonymity advancements

Cons

• Constraints around micro tests
• Cryptocurrency tracking concerns
• Lingering uncertainty expected from newcomers

While milestones met for a maiden voyage, uncharted seas summoning Blackbeard loom large. But Ares may yet chart a course balancing accessibility and security for the next wave of swashbucklers.