Explain why Hydra ICOs are risks for investors and a challenge for the police

The darknet marketplace Hydra threatens to crush the long-dormant token sales market. Site managers statedplans to conduct an ICO to raise funds for a transnational platform for prohibited goods.

Hydra plans to invest the raised funds in the development of the anonymous AspaNET network, a service for creating HatchService gateways, as well as LocalPoint and GlobalPoint cryptocurrency exchange platforms.

Marketplace initiative has already attracted attentionpower structures. If the project is implemented, the developers will, in the first place, endanger the users of the service, an anonymous law enforcement source said in a comment to ForkLog.

According to him, the technology of communication transmission, created to commit crimes, is equivalent to the use and dissemination of malicious computer programs.

«Users who posted on theircomputer gateways to provide anonymous access would break the law. As an example, we can recall the story of mathematician Dmitry Bogatov, who was prosecuted for hosting a TOR browser node. The same applies to services for exchanging cryptocurrency received from drug sales. Legalization of proceeds from crime is a criminal offense on the territory of the Russian Federation»,— the source said.

He added that legislative responsibilityfor investments in ICOs on the territory of the Russian Federation is not provided, however, taking into account the latest state initiatives to tighten the fight against drug trafficking, it is likely that its financing will be prosecuted by analogy with the financing of terrorism.

«ICO project Hydra is populistcharacter and seems to be the cries of a wounded animal, since law enforcement agencies have carried out a number of activities that have complicated drug trafficking on the territory of the Russian Federation. In general, the initiative of the organizers of the Hydra site is being considered absolutely seriously, and measures are being taken to bring criminal charges for drug trafficking»,— said the law enforcement officer.

The source also confirmed that representatives of Hydra provided some assistance in closing the darknet sites RAMP, iKLAD, BlackMarket and Solaris.

Meanwhile, the representatives of the crypto community announced the campaign reminded of trolling the Telegram messenger with its TON blockchain platform.

«As a rule, in the shadow sector, statements aboutserious intentions are carried out with a small amount of trolling. From the point of view of the existing legislative framework, Hydra is illegal in the Russian Federation and other countries, so it is difficult to say whether such an enterprise can be promising»— Sergei Simanovsky, ecosystem development manager for the cyber~Congress project, said in a comment to ForkLog.

In his opinion, the risks of ICO campaigns outweigh any potential benefits for investors:

«This is the risk of exit scam, legal risks and, in fact, the risk of trust in a very narrow circle of beneficiaries of the site itself. Although trolling is very cool.

The cynicism of the Hydra initiative demonstrates the backwardness of law enforcement agencies from modern technologies, continued the representative of the organization «Internet Defense Society» Alexander Isavnin:

«So-called «law enforcementorgans» They are so passionate about falsifying criminal cases that they are completely behind the technology that criminals use. Cyber ​​investigations are left to «private police officers» from Group-IB and «Kaspersky Lab», and they are «investigating» the most profitable. As a result, sites are maturing and developing on the darknet, further increasing the technological gap and attracting growing young talents.

Isavnin suggested that instead of searching for criminals, law enforcement officers “in the style of ostriches” will hide their heads in the ground, “blocking” information».

In turn, Hydra owners will certainly take care of ensuring a high degree of anonymity of their tokens, noted the head of the public organization «RosKomSvoboda» Artem Kozlyuk.

«Often everything is decided by the human factor.Or the shadow investors themselves will leave digital traces, which can then be compared with their identity, as was the case, for example, in the Silk Road story. Or, if information about investors is centralized, there will be risks of leaking compromising information on individuals. However, the black market lives by its own rules, and its players fully understand all the risks and threats that may arise from participating in such activities»— concluded Kozlyuk.

The ICO itself of prohibited sites is possible,precisely because blockchain is a decentralized system. This will allow Hydra investors to remain in the shadows, said advisor Tomashevskaya & Partners, member of the Commission on Legal Support of the Digital Economy of the Moscow Branch of the Russian Bar Association Roman Yankovsky.

According to him, the darknet marketplace is preparing to issue a security token, which is a share in the joint venture. But he, obviously, will not be attached to real securities.

«In this case, investors have a very good chancewill not receive any compensation for these tokens. Investments in these tokens are not only an encouragement to criminal activity, but also a potential scam»— the expert emphasized.

Recall, in 2013, the founderSilk Road darknet marketplace Ross Ulbricht was sentenced to two life sentences without the right to amnesty for money laundering, hacking sites and drug trafficking.