Dark Markets: Entrepreneurship and Innovation Beyond the Law

In recent years, dark markets have become a concern not only for their users, but also for authorities and academia. This work looks at dark markets using the theory of entrepreneurship and comes up with three hypotheses. The first hypothesis of this work is the claim that doing business on the dark web differs significantly from traditional businesses. This hypothesis is verified by comparative analysis of businesses on the dark web and on the surface web. They differ in all three examined categories, in the establishment, operation and promotion, as well as in the termination of the business. The second hypothesis is that there is innovation on dark markets. Even this hypothesis has been proven. In particular, the innovation is the result of the reactions of whole markets to hacker attacks and sanctions by authorities. Finally, the third hypothesis is the claim that monopoly structures arise on the dark web. This hypothesis was only partially confirmed. It is indeed true that monopolization occurs, but it depends on the definition of a monopoly. The work is complemented by a geographic representation of drug and other physical goods offers on the Wall Street Market, which was the biggest dark market on the dark web at the time of writing.