Russian authorities have made a significant breakthrough in their crackdown on illegal activities on the dark web. Dmitry Pavlov, the 35-year-old mastermind behind the Hydra darknet portal, has had around 649 million rubles ($8.2 million) worth of cryptocurrency confiscated from his wallets. This move follows an extensive investigation into Pavlov’s involvement in maintaining the servers for Hydra.
According to reports from the Russian newspaper Izvestia, court documents have confirmed the seizure of crypto assets from Pavlov’s wallets. Pavlov himself admitted to receiving payments in the form of cryptocurrency as a salary and bonuses for his services in maintaining the Hydra servers. Prosecution officials revealed that Pavlov was paid approximately 15 million rubles ($189,277) annually in crypto by a criminal ring.
Despite receiving payments in cryptocurrency, Pavlov chose to hold onto his coins rather than convert them to cash, hoping that their value would continue to increase. In addition to crypto payments, Hydra operators also provided Pavlov with cash to cover maintenance costs for the servers. The Moscow District Court has already sentenced 16 individuals for their involvement in operating Hydra, with the mastermind Stanislav Moiseev receiving a life sentence.
Moiseev and others involved in Hydra reportedly provided Pavlov with funds to rent and maintain servers at a German company, Hetzner. The costs for server maintenance alone amounted to 1.5-2 million rubles ($18,928-$25,239) per month. Prosecutors disclosed that Hydra managers would regularly send couriers with bags of cash to Pavlov. The annual turnover of Hydra was estimated to be $1.7 billion, with the platform taking a cut of 2% to 5% from crypto transactions.
Experts testifying at Pavlov’s trial revealed that the net profit of Hydra’s co-founders, including related services, was approximately 100 billion rubles ($1.3 billion) annually. Rosfinmonitoring, Russia’s top anti-money laundering agency, provided insights into the financial operations of Hydra. The agency reported that while global crypto sales on darknet markets decreased by 15% in 2024, Russian sites experienced a 68% increase in crypto sales.
The seizure of $8.2 million worth of cryptocurrency from Dmitry Pavlov marks a significant victory for Russian authorities in their fight against illegal activities on the dark web. The crackdown on Hydra and its operators underscores the government’s commitment to combatting cybercrime and money laundering. As investigations continue, it is clear that law enforcement agencies are determined to dismantle criminal networks operating on the dark web.