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The carding market ceased to exist, bringing its administrator billions of dollars in bitcoin.
Joker's Stash, the most popular carding platform on the darknet, has ceased to exist once and for all. Last month, its administrator, known under the pseudonym JokerStash or simply Joker, announced that all operations would be phased out on February 15, 2021, and kept his word by retiring as a billionaire.
At the time of its existence, Joker's Stash was the largest underground carding site. It not only allowed the sale of stolen bank card data, but also facilitated the laundering of illegally acquired cryptocurrency. Cybercriminals used stolen bank card details to buy gift certificates and other similar items and then sell them for cash.
In January of this year, without explaining the reasons, the Joker's Stash administrator announced his intention to permanently close the site, turn off all servers and erase backups. According to the analytical company Elliptic, the site went to oflline a little earlier than the announced date - February 3.
So, what kind of “pension” has JokerStash provided itself since the launch of the site in 2014? Elliptic estimates that $ 139 million in sales were made through Joker's Stash in 2018 alone. Revenues have plummeted recently due to improvements in payment card fraud detection technologies. However, from 2015 to 2021, more than $ 400 million passed through the site.
The Joker's Stash site made money by charging fees for transferring bitcoins to the dollar balance, as well as fees for all trading in stolen cards. Although the commission rate cannot be accurately determined, Elliptic analysts based their calculations on an average of 20% - a percentage often used in carding transactions.
“Assuming that the average total commission on sales was 20%, they would have received a total of at least 60,000 bitcoins with Bitcoin alone,” the analysts write. At the current exchange rate, 60k bitcoins is about $ 2.1 billion.
Joker's Stash, the most popular carding platform on the darknet, has ceased to exist once and for all. Last month, its administrator, known under the pseudonym JokerStash or simply Joker, announced that all operations would be phased out on February 15, 2021, and kept his word by retiring as a billionaire.
At the time of its existence, Joker's Stash was the largest underground carding site. It not only allowed the sale of stolen bank card data, but also facilitated the laundering of illegally acquired cryptocurrency. Cybercriminals used stolen bank card details to buy gift certificates and other similar items and then sell them for cash.
In January of this year, without explaining the reasons, the Joker's Stash administrator announced his intention to permanently close the site, turn off all servers and erase backups. According to the analytical company Elliptic, the site went to oflline a little earlier than the announced date - February 3.
So, what kind of “pension” has JokerStash provided itself since the launch of the site in 2014? Elliptic estimates that $ 139 million in sales were made through Joker's Stash in 2018 alone. Revenues have plummeted recently due to improvements in payment card fraud detection technologies. However, from 2015 to 2021, more than $ 400 million passed through the site.
The Joker's Stash site made money by charging fees for transferring bitcoins to the dollar balance, as well as fees for all trading in stolen cards. Although the commission rate cannot be accurately determined, Elliptic analysts based their calculations on an average of 20% - a percentage often used in carding transactions.
“Assuming that the average total commission on sales was 20%, they would have received a total of at least 60,000 bitcoins with Bitcoin alone,” the analysts write. At the current exchange rate, 60k bitcoins is about $ 2.1 billion.
