The dark web is a hidden part of the internet, accessible only through specialized software, which ensures user activity remains anonymous. Unlike the clear web, where websites are catalogued and easily available using traditional web browsers, the dark web operates on an encrypted layer of the internet, obfuscated and isolated.
Notoriously known for hosting the majority of illicit online activities, user identities remain largely unknown. It provides a safe haven for criminals globally, allowing unlawful actors, illegal businesses, and criminal enterprises to flourish.
Due to its encrypted nature, privacy and anonymity are prioritized above all else, inviting the most malicious and egregious offenders to conduct their heinous affairs behind closed doors. The use of various cryptocurrencies complements the dark web, enabling illicit actors to further insulate themselves from law enforcement, making transactions increasingly difficult to trace.
Gun Shop Case 01
At Nominis, we leverage AI-driven analysis to streamline Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter-Terrorist Financing (CTF) compliance using insights from the clear web, deep web, and dark web. While surveilling the dark web for illicit activity, we detected a black market operation, Gun Shop Case 01 (GSC 01), illegally distributing weapons internationally.
GSC 01 delivers to their client-base in the United States of America, European Union, Australia, and Turkey, utilizing discreet distribution methods. They sell everything from ammunition and suppressors to submachine guns, using cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tron for transacting covertly.
Despite efforts to track and prevent illicit actors from engaging in criminal activity on the dark web, emerging technological challenges continue to arise because of how advanced and foreign the cryptocurrency industry is to traditional law enforcement agencies. This is where Nominis steps in, providing the most comprehensive solutions to these very pertinent and complex issues.
Leveraging our AI-driven analysis via Nominis Vue, our research team has monitored the dark web and found the cryptocurrency wallet addresses used by GSC 01. Nominis Vue gives us the ability to view all of their incoming and outgoing transactions, including exact times and dates, showing the latest activity or lack thereof.
GSC 01’s BTC wallet addresses is 19rQ**************YDcu, its first transaction was on July 20, 2023, with its latest transaction being on Feb 25, 2025. In the Link Builder map above, we can see that there are two outgoing links from GSC 01’s wallet to two separate Binance wallet addresses, one with 19 transactions and a total of $14,741, and the other with 36 transactions with a total of $5,444.
This is merely a glimpse into this wallet’s transaction history as there are many more links that cannot be disclosed at this point in time. If this can happen to a multi-billion dollar company, then no business is safe from the dangers posed by crypto money launderers and darknet marketplaces.
Legitimate companies and organizations such as Binance are falling victim to unlawful actors by failing to verify all incoming and outgoing transactions on their platforms. The integrity and reputation of companies dealing with crypto are on the line, AML and CTF compliance is not a feature, but a necessity, in order to remain reputable, trustworthy, and legal.
Global Impact
There is no central authority within the dark web that regulates or conducts background checks for organizations, businesses, and individuals selling in these black markets, meaning GSC 01 is able to sell directly to their customers with absolutely no oversight. GSC 01 offers an enormous selection of weaponry, which is evidently readily available, posing significant risks to the national security of the aforementioned countries and regions.
Transnational organised crime has never been more prominent than it is today. The dark web facilitates global criminal networks, giving transgressors, like arms dealers, the inclination to work together across nations under various jurisdictions.
We provide our clients with crucial and painstakingly precise intelligence to ensure AML and CTF compliance, with a shared common goal, to protect and secure the future of the evolving world of crypto and global e-commerce.
Final Insights: Unraveling the Web
Since users’ identities on the dark web remain unknown to a large degree, finding connections between different companies working together can appear to be an unachievable task. IP addresses and browser activities are hidden, making traditional monitoring and surveillance methods ineffective and powerless.
With Nominis Vue, we are able to find connections between separate criminal enterprises on the dark web using our inimitable approach. Instead of tracking IP addresses and browser activities to find unlawful actors working together or multiple fronts of one criminal entity, we screen a vast number of black market wallet addresses and utilize Nominis Vue to pinpoint and reveal the financial footprints of illicit businesses and their owners.
In the following Dark Web Investigations article, we will be covering a distinct enterprise directly linked to GSC 01. The company does not offer the same products and services, nor does it share the same client base. There are no apparent similarities between the two businesses, though we have successfully been able to identify one critical loose end leaving them exposed. Unraveling this web will shed light on the complexity of black market operations on the dark web, and the ways in which they impact the world.
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