WallStreet was launched in 2016 and served as a darknet market enabling the sale of various illicit goods and services.
Market Stats
Total vendors: Around 5,400 vendors (According to the police's reports)
Listings:
1. Drugs – 12073
2. Counterfeits – 842
3. Jewelry & Gold- 44
4. Carding Ware – 70
5. Services – 1443
6. Software & Malware – 552
7. Security & Hosting – 79
8. Fraud – 1625
9. Digital Goods – 3339
10. Guides & Tutorials – 2593
Total Listings: 22,600
During its peak, WallStreet Market was considered as the go-to platform as it was one of the oldest and well-established darknet markets. This, in turn, gave the site a positive reputation within the community.
With positive feedback, Wallstreet continued to soar high as other markets went down because of seizures and exit scams. While the users were on the lookout for alternatives, WallStreet maintained its position.
Today, WallStreet is offline as it faced the same fate as the original Silk Road, Silk Road 2, AlphaBay, Valhalla, Black Hand and other markets seized by law enforcement personnel.
Wall Street Market Seized
Last year was rough for the darknet community with a series of seizures, exit scams and countless hacks that affected a majority of markets and forums including WS.
After research, we determine that investigations into this marketplace started soon after it was established, and it is only until May 2019 that authorities managed to seize the site.
A week before the takedown, the marketplace was supposedly closed for maintenance.
Market users found this notice extremely strange and were worried the market will face the same fate as many other darknet markets that had either exist scammed or seized by authorities.
The post regarding the suspicious maintenance mode read:
"We irregularly do maintenance, to provide a flawless and comfortable platform for our users (buyers as well as vendors) at any time.
To make this possible, we need to work on our servers instantly from time to time.
The maintenance is usually done pretty fast."
The announcement also included information about the beginning and the end of the maintenance. According to the post, the site should have been back online by April 25, 2019. Listed as temporarily down for maintenance, the forum of the WallStreet Market was out of use as well.
During this time, the market administrators were in the process of pulling an exit scam which failed horribly as an unstable VPN connection led to the police locating the individuals involved with the market.
If the plan by the moderators went through, then they would have made away with a sum of about $30 Million in escrow.
After some days, on May 3, 2019, a police seizure notice displayed on the site. The notice stated that the site had been seized by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA).
The operation ended with the confiscation of assets, cryptocurrencies and millions in cash. This then led to the arrest and multiple charges against the operators of the site.
It is the collaborative efforts between U.S and European authorities that led to the arrest of three German citizens Klaus-Martin Fros, Tibo Lousee, and Jonathan Kalla.All three of them are accused of running the marketplace.
Additionally, some of the market's vendors have been charged ever since as the authorities were able to gain access to information that may reveal the identity of the market users.
WallStreet News Summary
2016: Launch of Wall Street Market
2017: The investigation of Wall Street Market begins
April 16, 2019: Users of WallStreet Market begin suspecting the administrators are "exit scamming" after the reports they had nearly $10 million in Bitcoins
April 23, 2019: The moderators of WallStreet Market switch the platform into maintenance mode
April 23 and 24: German authorities arrested the three alleged admins of Wall Street Market, and it is believed they planned to escape with the money held in escrow
May 2: The police confiscated the servers of the Wall Street Market and shut the platform down
May 3: A seizure notice from the police appears on the official website of Wall Street Market
Using Wall Street
Wall Street Market was easy to use and understand. It was a completely anonymous and secure marketplace. Just like any other market, registration required the use of fake credentials.
For additional account security, one could enable 2FA by setting up a PGP key which is a very important security feature.
To facilitate payments, Wall Street Market supported Bitcoin and Monero as means of payment. Unlike the majority of new platforms, this market had placed 2 out of 3 MultiSig.
Another notable feature about the Market is that it allowed the vendors and buyers to verify each other as a way to increase trust among its users.
Also, Wall Street had its forum just like other well-established markets. This allowed users to discuss and exchange valuable information.
Lastly, users could choose the time they wished to be logged in to the market.
