Russian-speaking darknet market, Hydra Market, believed to be the world’s largest, was seized by German authorities on April 5, 2022. Hydra Market, a darknet market known for its sale of drugs and money laundering, was targeted by Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and Central Office for Combating Cybercrime (ZIT) due to its prevalence on the dark web. In joint research conducted by Flashpoint and Chainalysis, they estimated that Hydra Market accounted for over 75% of darknet market revenue worldwide throughout 2020. It is estimated that Hydra’s annual transaction volumes exceeded $1.6 billion in 2021. Hydra Market also included a Bitcoin Bank Mixer, a service that allows “tumbling” of Bitcoin by adding a layer of obfuscation to trades, making it difficult to track. German BKA was able to attribute and seize 543.3 BTC, which at the time of publication is close to $25 million, during the raid on the marketplace. This raid on Hydra Market is the latest in a wave of law enforcement actions taken against underground marketplaces since the start of 2022. Action against Hydra Market was possible after a “lengthy investigation,” of administrators and other operators on the platform. The investigation of Hydra Market is still ongoing, and no arrests have been made as of yet. Due to the investigation against the administrators, however, it is likely German authorities will ultimately be able to identify individuals connected to Hydra Market.