[2017-11-13] Darknet Markets Are Back – But With the Blockchain Bloated

[bbc.reporter]

I reckon the sudden increase of unconfirmed transactions will affect not only transactions in the darknet but obviously also the transactions in the clearnet. It would be good to know how clearnet transactions, going into services like gambling sites, are badly affected by long confirmation times and also if bitcoin only gambling sites are now willing to accept altcoins.

There are good alternatives out there but Ethereum is not one of them like what the article mentioned.



Users on r/darknetmarkets complained of transactions sent to Dream, the largest DNM, that were unconfirmed after five hours. The Dream forum is filled with similar tales of woe, including dozens of complaints filed in the last 24 hours. Customers of the darknet, who are often in a hurry to get their goods, think nothing of paying high confirmation fees – even when those fees are approaching $10, as has been the case with bitcoin recently. Even with higher fees selected, however, transactions have still been slow.

Privacy Coins Prosper

It wasn’t transaction issues that spurred many DNMs into accepting alternative digital currencies, but rather privacy. Law enforcement are becoming increasingly adept at assigning bitcoin addresses to real world identities, as a number of deep web vendors have discovered in the past year. Nevertheless, when the bitcoin network is under strain, altcoins provide additional benefits, facilitating quick and low-cost transactions.

Dream has yet to accept alternatives to bitcoin, but Point Marketplace (formerly Tochka) and Aero do, the former taking ethereum and the latter accepting monero. Then there is Libertas, which is a monero-only marketplace. Monero has risen in value over the past week, though how much of that can be attributed to darknet adoption is debatable.

Read the whole article https://news.bitcoin.com/darknet-markets-back-blockchain-bloated-whos-buying/

[buwaytress]

A little surprising to hear the rants coming from dark market users, considering they generally are a bit above average Bitcoin users. $10 fees considered high now? Not when the price of Bitcoin is above $6,000 I'd say. And if they've been on the scene for the past 6 months, they'd know by now how to adjust fees and/or use acceleration services. News is from Bitcoin.com, so perhaps a tiny bit of agenda there yeah?

Then again, it's reddit, so what else can we expect besides whinging? We've got to understand that these whiners seem to magically appear in the droves whenever the mempool gets all pregnant like it is now. Coincidence less likely than coordinated coincidence.

[BitHodler]

Dark net markets should look to incorporate other altcoins, and then mainly those that are focused on offering privacy related features. Monero is perfectly suited for that, so let them start using it.

I get that Monero enjoys far less popularity in comparison to Bitcoin, but the longer you wait with shifting to Monero, the more difficult the transition will be. Seriously, they could have done this years ago.

As long as Bitcoin is the main driver in these markets, there is no point into complaining. It's well known that Bitcoin experiences periods where transactions take time to confirm, especially with below average fees.

[bbc.reporter]

@BitHodler. But Monero is becoming a more popular alternative. There are darknet vendors who are starting to accept Monero only because of their concern on their privacy, but also because it is cheaper and faster.

I agree that the transition is slow, but I reckon we will see it accelerate on 2018 when more users learn that there are features in some altcoins more suitable for their needs.

[777Bitcoin]

The transaction time is giving some headaches to some and most of those who were on the daily transaction pattern. If to make it balance and good to either way a conversion to alternative currency is doable. I agree that eth is not suitable anymore, if there is one and better option is I’ll go litecoin and monero as op said. Honestly why litecoin, I’m biased to it because I like it a lot.