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With just over a year of mostly-successful operation under its belt, DarkFox Market is proving to be a survivor, gaining more buyers and boosting product listings quicker than ever in 2021. The market includes over 7,000 listings divided throughout the normal categories, with the Drugs category accounting for approximately 30% of total listings. DarkFox is extremely searchable and filterable, and the UI appears to have been designed from the ground up.

The most noticeable distinction at DarkFox Market is that you can view the product listings without logging in. This includes the ability to browse not only the featured items, but also the contents of individual categories. DarkFox’s decision to allow customers to “window shop” before registering an account has undoubtedly contributed to their popularity.

Another feature that sets them apart (but isn’t always a good thing) is their unpleasant captcha system, which sometimes requires trying to read the face of a clock and is easy to fail. Sometimes it’s easier than that, but expect to spend a few moments occasionally demonstrating that you’re not a machine. Another thing that many market participants may not like is that this is a Bitcoin-only market.

DarkFox Market Quick Facts

• DarkFox Market Link: http://mvwl4dlp732ke7oqp4tdu56gkbozurqykbl3ca6qc4x3t4rpxhe3hmyd.onion/
• Founded: 2020
• Number of listings: 7000+
• Listing categories: Drugs, Guides & Tutorials, Fraud, Digital Products, Software & Malware, Counterfeit Items, Erotica, Services, Hosting & Security, Miscellaneous
• Coins accepted: Bitcoin (BTC)
• Multisignature escrow: Yes
• Finalize Early (FE) Allowed: Yes (50% and 100%)
• Vendor bond: $150

Prior to Beginning

Before attempting to use DarkFox Market URL or any other darknet market, some fundamental knowledge in cryptocurrencies, security, and common sense protocols are required. Before you can have a successful experience on DarkFox, you must have at least a basic understanding of the following:

• How to obtain, receive and send Bitcoin.
• How to use a Tor browser.
• How to practice good OPSEC (operation security).

Another thing you may need to know in order to make the most of DarkFox is how to sign a multisignature transaction. Wallets such as Electrum will not only allow you to sign multisig transactions, but will also provide you with your wallet xpub, which is required by the market to construct the transaction.

If you value your privacy, it is strongly advised that you only use Tor from a computer that cannot be linked to your personal identity. This can be performed by booting from a USB drive with something like the Tails OS, which leaves no trace that a machine ever visited a website using Tor in the first place.

Last but not least, one of the most fundamental OPSEC principles for darknet market purchasers is to never move funds directly from an exchange to the market. This theoretically establishes a link between you and suspicious activity via Bitcoin blockchain activity. It’s especially terrible if the exchange possesses your personal information, which you may have provided for KYC purposes.

There are workarounds (if you’re trying to finance your DarkFox account with coins purchased from an exchange):

• Send them to an intermediary address first. Sending coins to an address you control off-exchange is the very bare minimum you can do to remove the direct link between you and a darknet market. Exchanges are now requiring KYC from wallets outside their system, so transferring funds two hops instead of one isn’t a bad idea.
• Send your funds through a Bitcoin mixer. ChipMixer and other currency mixing services are excellent for eliminating traces of your identify from your coin spending habits. This procedure is highly advised for serious buyers wishing to send large sums of money to a market – but beware of bogus mixing sites; they exist.
• Use a coinjoin-type wallet like Wasabi. Wasabi and Samourai wallets both have excellent mixing services built in that do not require outside control to the extent that ChipMixer does. These can be pricey, but they are great for anyone looking for a more decentralized mixing experience.

Even though DarkFox is a “JavaScript-free” marketplace, you should disable JavaScript in your browser before loading it or any other darknet market. This can be performed in a variety of methods, the most comprehensive of which is as follows:

1. Type “about:config” into the Tor browser address bar.

2. Pass through the warning and click “Show All” to bring up Tor configuration options.

3. Search for the preference named “javascript”.

4. Set the “javscript.enabled” option to “false”.

Your Tor JavaScript will now be disabled every time you open the browser, until you manually reset the configuration setting to “true”.

Avoid Being Scammed

One of the most important things to remember is to always visit the original version of the website and never a fake. Phishing attempts routinely target darknet market users, with some involving false links posted on innocent-looking websites. Logging on to these sites may result not only in the loss of funds, but also in the loss of identity and privacy. Getting your link from a reliable darknet market link provider, such as DarknetOne, is one of the best ways to avoid logging on to a phishing site. The URLs on this page can be discovered in PGP-verified text messages given by the market on a regular basis.

The market also routinely adds fresh connections to its home page, namely in the News portion of the General Info panel. These links are visible whether you are signed in or out of DarkFox.

How to Make an Account

1. Find a confirmed link to DarkFox and use the Tor browser to visit the website. Before you arrive, you might have to solve one of those vexing captchas we described earlier. Following that, the landing page should look like this:

To begin, go to the upper-right corner of the screen and click the “Register” button..

2. Generate a username that isn’t related with your IRL identity, enter a strong password twice (a combination of upper/lowercase letters, digits, and symbols is advised), create a PIN number (used to confirm transactions and withdrawals), overcome the captcha, and click “Register.”

Don’t forget to store your login information in a safe place where you won’t forget where it is.

3. Next, you will be presented a 24 mnemonic that can be used to restore your account in the event you get hacked or otherwise lose control of it.

After saving the mnemonic in a secure location, press the button that says “I have written down my mnemonic” to continue. You will then be redirected to the login screen, where you will enter your username and password to log in.

4. After logging in, the first thing you’ll want to do is add a PGP key. This is necessary to receive encrypted communications from vendors and other market users. To do this, click your account name toward the upper right corner of the screen (to the left of the “Sign Out” button) to access your account settings.

You’ll note that there’s a very large selection of configuration options represented as menu tabs. Select the one that says “PGP.” You will be given a large text box in which to enter your PGP public key. Messages sent by other users will be encrypted with your public key, and messages sent by you will (should) be encrypted with their respective public keys as well (also made available in user profiles). When correctly filled, the box should appear like this:

When you’re ready, press the “Add Key” button underneath the box to continue.

5. Finally, you must validate your public key by decrypting a message issued to you by the market. Copy the text that is now displayed in the PGP text field and use your PGP application to decrypt the message with the public key that was previously provided.

The verification code will look something like this:

After the code has been entered, press the “Verify key” button to continue. You will then be transported back to the PGP setting page with your newly-added public key visibly displayed.

How to Deposit Money into Your DarkFox Market Account

DarkFox is a bit old school in that they still use the traditional account wallet system, in which all monies are placed and held by the market until they are released, generally at the end of a sale. They also exclusively accept Bitcoin (BTC) as a form of payment. To fund your account, go to the Wallet menu tab, which is found in the upper right corner of the screen beneath your account name.

You will notice a Bitcoin deposit address here where you can deposit coins for future purchases. It is recommended that you only store the bare minimum of BTC in your wallet for short-term purchases, as darknet marketplaces have an unbreakable history of collapsing at the most inconvenient of times.

After sending BTC to the address displayed in the Wallet screen, your balance will be updated after two confirmations. You can either refresh the screen and wait for a status update, or you can continue browsing the market. Sending BTC to the same address again may result in it not being credited to your account. Instead, check the address before sending a second time because it refreshes between deposits.

Exploring the DarkFox Market

As previously said, you do not need to register an account to browse the market. Simply complete the initial captcha and browse the market before selecting whether or not to form an account.

Although it is not as large as some other marketplaces, DarkFox has a good selection of listings, with roughly 6,000 in total. The following are the product listing categories (and subcategories) on DarkFox:

• Drugs (Barbiturates, Benzos, Cannabis, Dissociatives, Drug Precursors, Ecstasy, Opioids, Other, Paraphernalia, Prescription, Psychedelics, Recreational Chemicals, Reagents, Steroids, Stimulants, Weight Loss)
• Guides & Tutorials (Drugs, Fraud, Hacking, Other, Security)
• Fraud (Account & Drops, Cards & CVV, Data & Scans, Dumps, Personal Info)
• Digital Products (Accounts, Databases, E-Books, Leaks, Software Keys)
• Software & Malware (Botnets, Crypters, Exploit Kits, Exploits, Fraud, Malware, Other, Rats, Security Software)
• Erotica (Accounts, Other, Videos & Photos)
• Counterfeit Items (Clothing, Electronics, Fake IDs, Jewelry & Gold, Money, Other, Tobacco)
• Services
• Hosting & Security (Hosting, Socks, VPN)
• Miscellaneous

DarkFox’s listing filters are pretty comprehensive and let you narrow down displayed results by the following attributes:

• Keyword(s)
• Type (Digital, Physical, All)
• Price (min-max)
• Payment options (Finalize Early, Finalize Early 50%, Normal Escrow, Bitcoin Multisignature)
• Exclude vendors on vacation (Yes, No)
• Automatic fulfillment (Yes, No, Any)
• Items in stock (Yes, No, Any)
• Ships from (country)
• Shops to (country)
• Minimum vendor level (1-10)

Listings can be ordered by price, popularity, latest or oldest.

From the listings page, the following information is provided about each item:

• Price
• Vendor level
• Vendor’s amount of completed orders
• Quantity in stock
• Amount sold
• Ships from
• Shipping options

The “View Offer” button at the bottom of each listing takes you to the listing’s page.

Click on a vendor’s name to view additional information about the vendor. DarkFox does not bring much rating information from other markets over for sellers, but they do tell you the total amount of ratings and average rating they have imported from other markets.

Here you will find all of the vendor’s basic information, the most essential of which is their number of completed orders and the average rating left by purchasers. This information will assist you in determining the vendor’s experience and competence. You can also check how many disputes the vendor has had started against them and how many of them they have won.

When given a choice, it’s always better to order from the more experienced vendor, even if it means paying a somewhat higher price for the same goods. The less likely you are to encounter a problem with an unskilled or fraudulent vendor, the better. Making wise selections from the start can save you a lot of time and money in the long run.

Before placing your first transaction with a merchant, make sure you’ve reviewed their information, particularly their shipping and refund policies. They may not deliver to your country or may not offer the delivery option you choose. You can also learn about any preferences they may have when it comes to leaving shipping information, FE specifications, and so on.

Multisignature transactions

To use multisig escrow on DarkFox, you must first configure your account with a Bitcoin public key and withdrawal address. This information is required to sign off on transactions confirming refunds to your personal address, as well as providing a mechanism of executing a transaction between you and a merchant with some coordination.

As the withdrawal address, enter the location where you wish your reimbursements to be sent. If you believe the market will always do what it is supposed to do, multisig may not be necessary. Before you may use multisig escrow, you must have completed at least one transaction using standard escrow.

Making a Purchase

When you find an item you want to buy, enter the quantity you want to buy and hit the orange “Purchase” button to be taken to the order screen. The first thing you should do is encrypt your shipping address with the vendor’s PGP key. DarkFox claims that they will do this on your behalf regardless, although doing it yourself is considered good OPSEC.

To locate the vendor’s PGP key, navigate to their vendor page and select the “PGP” option. Next, import their public key into your PGP software (such as Kleopatra) and encrypt your shipping details with it. Copy the results and paste them into the “Message to seller” box.

DarkFox accepts four distinct payment methods:

– Normal Escrow (payment is held by the market until the order is finalized)

– Finalize Early (payment is released to vendor after the order has been marked as shipped)

– Finalize Early 50% (half of payment is release to vendor after order is shipped)

– Bitcoin Multisignature (2 of 3 multisignature transaction required to release funds to vendor)

Normal Escrow will most likely be used most of the time, with Finalize Early saved for trusted vendors.

Bitcoin Multisignature is for people who are comfortable with multisignature transactions but do not want to rely on the market. If the market falls for any reason, funds held in an order can still be released to the vendor or returned to the buyer without involving the market.

After you’ve reviewed your shipping and payment options, click “Purchase.”

You will then be sent to the order confirmation screen. You’ll go over the order details and the final price you’ll pay here. If everything here appears to be in order for you (including the total amount to be deducted from your wallet balance), enter your PIN and press “Confirm” to proceed.

If you have sufficient funds, the order will be marked as paid, and the order’s cost will be deducted from your balance. The vendor will get notification of your order and will begin preparing it for shipment. The vendor will mark the order as shipped after it has been shipped.

If you choose FE as a payment method, monies should be released to the vendor as soon as the order is marked as dispatched.

If you choose normal or multisig escrow, monies are not required to be transferred to the vendor until you have received your product and verified it to be adequate. However, remember to complete your order as soon as possible, as this is regarded excellent market etiquette.

You can open a dispute if you are unhappy with the quality of your item, it was not what you expected, or you did not receive it at all. This is done through the “Purchases” menu. Before an order may be auto-finalized, it must be disputed.

Summary

Overall, DarkFox appears to be as good as it gets in terms of darknet markets. They have yet to attract a substantial collection of veteran sellers who appear to be happier elsewhere, but this is just temporary, and things could change quickly following the next closure. Customers on review sites have a generally positive attitude regarding DarkFox, with a few remarks mentioning that the moderators were more likely to look favorably on purchasers during disputes than in many other marketplaces.

Because DarkFox appears to rely on outdated darknet market practices, such as being BTC-only and having a centralized wallet system, we urge you to exercise extreme caution when leaving funds on the market for extended periods of time, and to be especially cautious when funding your account with BTC. Remember that every transaction recorded by the blockchain exists in perpetuity, so there’s no need to bind your real-life ID to it.

Finally, we recommend starting small and gradually increasing your order size as your trust in a provider grows. Because many of the merchants on DarkFox are new, you may find it difficult to get the item you want and where you want it without encountering limited vendor options. As long as the market continues to perform its tasks and apply solid security methods, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t develop in the future, delivering a rounder range of listings for its categories.