US authorities have sanctioned the operator of a shuttered on-line darknet market, together with his crypto addresses, which just lately profited from Bitcoin value fluctuations.
Iran-based Behrouz Parsarad established the darknet market Nemesis in 2021 and used it to facilitate the sale of medicine, false identification paperwork, skilled hacking sources, and a wide range of different illicit companies for cybercriminals, the US Workplace of Overseas Belongings Management (OFAC) mentioned in a March 4 assertion.
Underneath the sanctions, US residents at the moment are blocked from coping with Parsarad and any firms the place he owns greater than a 50% stake.
A US, German-Lithuanian regulation enforcement operation shut down Nemesis in 2024. Supply: Chainalysis
Blockchain analytics agency Chainalysis mentioned the sanctioned property contains 44 Bitcoin (BTC) addresses and 5 Monero (XMR) addresses, which, between July 2022 and March 2024, obtained greater than $850,000.
The entire quantity of cryptocurrency despatched by Parsarad exceeds $1.6 million, which Chainalysis attributed to cost appreciation.
Most of Parsarad’s transaction quantity is with Nemesis, however he additionally despatched over $12,000 to a number of different darknet marketplaces, similar to ASAP Market, Incognito Market and Subsequent Era, and had “oblique publicity to mixers,” in response to the blockchain analytics agency.
Parsarad interacted onchain with a number of different darknet marketplaces. Supply: Chainalysis
OFAC says that earlier than a US German-Lithuanian regulation enforcement operation confiscated its servers in March 2024, {the marketplace} had 30,000 energetic customers and 1,000 distributors and was designed with built-in cash laundering options.
“Along with offering criminals with a platform to conduct transactions, Parsarad laundered digital currencies for narcotics traffickers and cybercriminals energetic on Nemesis,” OFAC mentioned.
The federal government company estimates Parsarad pocketed “thousands and thousands of {dollars} over the course of {the marketplace}’s existence.”
Performing Underneath Secretary for Terrorism and Monetary Intelligence Bradley T. Smith mentioned Parsarad additionally “continues to attempt to re-establish” the operation.
Darknet marketplaces nonetheless booming regardless of enforcement actions
Darknet marketplaces generated over $1.7 billion in income in 2024, solely a slight enhance from the earlier yr, in accordance to blockchain intelligence agency TRM Labs 2025 Crypto Crime Report.
TRM Labs mentioned Russian-language darknet markets continued to dominate the ecosystem, primarily resulting from Russian authorities’ “low threat of enforcement motion.”
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On the similar time, Western darknet marketplaces struggled beneath elevated enforcement and operational instability. In a March 4 weblog put up, TRM Labs mentioned that in early 2024, a number of main exit scams occurred within the Western darknet market scene.
“Bohemia Market and Cannabia Market disappeared in January beneath suspicious circumstances, later revealed by Dutch authorities to be a part of an ongoing investigation,” TRM Labs mentioned.
In March, Incognito Market collapsed following a attainable exit rip-off. TRM Labs says its administrator, referred to as “Pharoah,” tried to extort customers earlier than shutting down {the marketplace}.
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