A Complete Guide to Nemesis Market

In this guide we explain everything you need to know to get connected to Nemesis, one of the newest darknet markets to achieve a decent amount of popularity.

Nemesis is a vendor- and community-oriented darknet market that combines several successful features of its predecessors into a uniquely designed market/forum hybrid. It has been completely revamped as of early March 2022, choosing to let anyone view what’s on the market before they actually have to create an account. Nemesis currently has close to 3,000 listings, which makes it on the smaller side, and most of these listings are for digital products and services. The forum aspect of Nemesis seems to be almost as important as the market itself, as users can comment on just about every update made by the admins and members are encouraged to interact with one another in the forum as much as they want.

One thing we notice about the “new” version of Nemesis is that they seem to now be heavily catering to vendors, recently introducing 10-day auto-finalizations for physical orders and instant FE status to all vendors who have received over 100 good reviews. At the same time, they state they are now only accepting vendors “with good reviews on another market.” This means no newbie vendors, which is great for buyers on Nemesis. Interestingly, the market also shifted from being Monero-only to now accepting Bitcoin as well; a move that flies in the face of recent trends. Finally, the market claims to employ a built-in mixing service which breaks the link between buyer and vendor funds.

Featured listings on Nemesis change randomly each time a category page is refreshed, and display preference is based on not only the vendor’s reputation, but their ability to promote Nemesis to outside audiences, as well. Vendors seem to be concentrated in the UK and EU regions, though there are some US-based vendors sprinkled here and there as well. We also managed to find a few vendors purporting to be from Australia and South America, as well. It seems the market has succeeded in attracting quite a few veteran vendors, although customers have been a bit slow to follow.

The rules of Nemesis that vendors must abide by are relatively lax compared to many other darknet markets. For instance, Nemesis is one of the last markets to have a subcategory for fentanyl products. It also has a huge array of hacking- and fraud-related listings, including malware/botnet listings, exploits, and even hacker-for-hire services. While this might sound great to some, it is likely to make the market a target of international law enforcement efforts, and eventually competing markets, as well. This means we recommend using the utmost caution when using Nemesis, which includes always PGP encrypting communications with vendors and always using XMR to make any purchases.

Basic Facts about Nemesis

• Year founded: 2021
• Nemesis Market link: x7r427rknx5kw2oztfxiusfkidotsgitvrwnz33kjkmtxzdybcd2ntad.onion

• Cryptocurrencies accepted: Bitcoin (BTC), Monero (XMR)
• Total Product/Service listings: 2,800+
• Listing Categories: Drugs, Fraud, Hacking, Forgeries/Counterfeits, Other
• Multi-signature escrow? No
• Finalize Early? Yes (for vendors with >100 positive reviews)
• Cost of vendor bond: $200 (non-refundable)

Before Getting Started

Before attempting to use Nemesis or any other darknet market, you should have a solid grasp of the following concepts:

• Tor browser. You will need to download and install the Tor browser which will allow you to connect to websites on the darknet (of which Nemesis is one). While it is true that the Tor browser masks your connection to sites that you are visiting when using it, your IP provider can still be aware that you are accessing the Tor network, so if you value true anonymity, it is suggested that you purchase a VPN (virtual private network) service to remove the connection between your IP and Tor.
• Cryptocurrency transactions. You will obviously need to have some experience with buying and sending cryptocurrency. Learn the basics of sending Monero (XMR, the recommended choice over Bitcoin) from one address to another, how to identify and input XMR addresses, and what a blockchain confirmation is. Sending cryptocurrency to a wrong address can be a costly error, so it’s good to have a handle on how to move it before attempting to do so for the first time.
• PGP encryption. You will also need to have a thorough understanding of the basics of PGP before attempting to use a darknet market like Nemesis. This includes knowing how to generate a PGP public/private key pair, import PGP public keys (often known as the Certificate Import process), and encrypt and decrypt messages, as well.

Disclaimer: This guide is for research purposes only and should not be construed to be advice; legal or otherwise. The authors of this guide do not condone activities that are illegal in your jurisdiction or others. Use the contents of this guide and/or the Nemesis darknet market at your own risk.

Don’t Get Phished

One of the great things about Nemesis is that they are committed to maintaining one (1) and only one URL, instead of a bunch of mirrors (like most other markets). This means that once you have the official URL (which begins with “nemesis555n…”), you will never need to look for another URL again.

Nemesis admins claim this is because they are able to successfully mitigate DDOS attacks. For the moment, this seems to be the case, although we did experience a few timeouts during the course of writing this guide. The main point is to just remember that you’ll never need to go looking for an alternate URL when attempting to log on to Nemesis.

Creating an Account

To create an account on Nemesis, start by pressing the blue “Create an Account” button in the upper-right hand corner of the market’s homepage. The account creation process is relatively straight-forward.

First, choose a unique username (one that cannot be tied to your real-life or other online identities). Next, pick a strong password (we recommend a random string of upper- and lower-case letters, numbers, and special symbols, at least 10 characters in length), and enter it twice; the second time being in the “Confirm password” field. Then choose a withdrawal password. This can be simpler (a minimum of 6 characters in length, like a PIN but can also include letters). Enter the withdrawal password a second time in the “Confirm withdrawal password” field. Then check the “I’m not a robot” box, solve the captcha, and press “Submit”.

You will next be presented with a “Mnemonic key”. This is a long string of letter and numbers that can be used to recover your account if you should somehow lose access to it. Remember to save this in a secure place where you won’t forget where it is. Then copy and paste the mnemonic key in the appropriate box, so the results look something like this:

Next, press “Confirm” to continue. And that’s it! Your account will have been created, and you will be logged in to the market, where you can get started making purchases (after registering a PGP key, that is).

Setting a PGP Key

To configure a PGP key for Nemesis, first hover over the first letter of your username, as displayed in the upper-right corner of any page on the market, then select “Update PGP key”, as shown below (if you don’t see this letter you may need to change your zoom level to 90%).

Next you will be brought to the PGP key entry screen. Here you’ll see a big, blank text box, which is where you will paste your PGP public key. When pasted correctly, it should look something like this:

Click the “Update” button after you have pasted the entire contents of your public key. Next, you will be asked to decrypt a message that has been encrypted with your key to prove ownership. To do this, select the entire PGP signed message and decrypt it using your PGP utility (Kleopatra, GPG, etc.).

Next, scroll down until you see the “Decrypted message” text box and paste the entire decrypted message in the box. It should look something like this:

Press “Verify” to proceed. If everything goes according to plan, you’ll be returned to the PGP key settings page which should now display a bannered messaged that reads “PGP public key verification was successful.” This means your PGP key is now attached to your account, and you are ready to begin placing orders on Nemesis.

Making a Deposit

Because Nemesis is a “wallet-less” market, it has no account wallet that requires a deposit to make purchases. Instead, each order is paid for by making a deposit to a unique address (this is often referred to as the Direct Pay system).

Browsing Nemesis

One thing you’ll notice right away about Nemesis is that its layout is completely different from that of pretty much all other darknet markets. Instead of choosing the classic storefront approach, Nemesis looks more like a forum — and indeed the market’s forum opens by default instead of a market page.

The market itself can be reached from any page on the site by clicking on the “Market” tab in the top menu bar. There is also a secondary menu bar that contains the following categories (hovering over a category will reveal its subcategories):

• Drugs (Cannabis, Stimulants, Opioids, Ecstasy, Dissociatives, Psychedelics, Benzodiazepines, Prescription Drugs, Steroids, Tobacco, Weight Loss, Paraphernalia, Other)
• Fraud (Cards/CVVs/Fullz, SSN/DOB/DL/PII, Bank Logins, Logins/Hacked Accounts, Carding, Carded Goods, Carded Accounts, Drop Addresses, Bank Drops, Other Drops, Phone numbers/Sim Cards, Verification Service, Verified Accounts, Dumps, Credit Card Skimmers, XXX Logins, VPN/Proxy/RDP, Other)
• Hacking (Ransomware, Malware/Botnets, Exploits, DDoS, Spamming/Anti Captcha, Access for Sale, Phishing/Social Engineering, Hackers for Hire, Scripts/Applications, Hosting, Other)
• Forgeries/Counterfeits (Currencies, Documents – Digital, Documents – Physical, Jewelry, Clothing, Electronics, Art Works, Deep Fake, Other)
• Other (Cash to Crypto, Crypto to Cash, Real Documents, Self-Defense, Guides and Tutorials, Customer Orders, Other)

Interestingly, Nemesis is one of those rare darknet markets that sports more digital listings than physical, although it does have a decent selection of drug listings as well. Many subcategories are further divided into sub-subcategories, which makes it extra easy to find the exact type of product for which you are searching. Alternatively, there is a search utility in the top middle of any screen which seems to work pretty well. What you won’t find are any filters or sorting options, except for those provided after a search is performed.

Here is an example of featured product listings in a category (this example is for Cannabis):

Listing summaries in each category (or subcategory) display the following info for each listing:

• Picture and title
• Pricing for each quantity offered
• Vendor name
• Vendor rating (1-5)
• Total reviews
• Total sales
• Ships from country (designated by national flag)

Clicking on a product we can see advanced information about it.

Moving from left-to-right, top-to-bottom, we see the product picture, title, the vendor logo, vendor name, vendor rating, total reviews, and total sales. We can also see all the different quantity and pricing options. Below this is the shipped from and ships to information, followed by shipping methods, as well as the quantity desired and add-to-cart option. You can also favorite a listing by clicking the little heart next to “Add to Cart”. This will make it easy to find later as it appears in your “Favorite Items”, an option found in your user menu. Finally, you can see if the vendor accepts Bitcoin, Monero, or both as payment options.

Scrolling down you will find out if this vendor uses Escrow or Finalize Early. In this example, it is an Escrow item. Please read the following if you plan on placing any order through Nemesis as it will give you an idea of what to expect when placing an order:

Scrolling down, we find a more detailed description of the time, followed by a Comment box if you should choose to ask the vendor a question. We recommend encrypting any text to be sent to a vendor (at every stage of the order process) as it is proper darknet market etiquette. Note that there is also a Reviews tab next to the Description tab. It is highly recommended to read whatever reviews are available for an item before placing an order with a vendor for the first time. If an item has zero reviews, considered avoiding it in favor of a similar product for which there are previously-left good reviews.

We also recommend clicking on a vendor name and reading all the info on their page before placing an order with them for a first time. This will give you an idea of what to expect from them, as well as what they will expect from you, the buyer, as well. For example, some vendors prefer that shipping information be provided in a certain way. Some vendors are inactive and should be avoided as placing an order with them may result in just you being separated from your funds for 5 or more days. Here is an example of an active vendor:

We can see that they are FE-enabled (meaning they have received at least 100 positive reviews from other markets). As indicated, they were last online recently, although they have yet to make a sale on Nemesis, which is why they have a Score of 0. Their customer reviews from other markets are on average very positive, which is why they have a 5-out-of-5 rating. The review and sales totals indicate they have been highly active on other markets, suggesting they are a very experienced vendor.

Placing an Order

After you’ve found an item you wish to purchase, select the quantity desired, then a shipping option, and press “Add to Cart”. Note that many vendors only ship to specific countries or regions, so make sure their ship-to area matches your own geographic location.

Next, you’ll want to provide your shipping details, but should encrypt them with the vendor’s PGP key before doing so. To do this, right-click the vendor name from the listing page to open their page in a new window. Then switch the default tab on the vendor page from Items to PGP Key. Scrolling down a bit is where you will find the vendor’s PGP key. Copy the key and import it into your PGP utility using the Certificate Import option. Next, encrypt your shipping information with the newly-imported key. Then return to the purchase window and paste the encrypted contents in the order details text box. The result should look something like this when properly finished:

Press “Update” to proceed to the next step of the order placement process, wait for the screen to refresh, then scroll down. If the vendor accepts both BTC and XMR for payment, you will be presented with two different payment options:

We recommend always using Monero when making a darknet market purchase, which is why we will be selecting it for the purposes of this example. Clicking that option reveals the following:

Here we see:

• the amount of XMR to be deposited, followed by
• the XMR address to which coins will be sent.

You will have three hours to complete a payment. Since XMR blocks are roughly two minutes in length on average, it shouldn’t take much more than two to three minutes for your transaction to be detected by the market. Check back after three or four minutes by pressing “Check deposit status”. After your deposit has been confirmed, Nemesis will pass on the order information to the seller, who will have up to 10 days to ship it (5 days to accept, 5 days to ship). You can only cancel your order within the first 48 hours of placing it.

If you are using an FE-enabled vendor, you must finalize the order after the vendor has market it as Shipped. This can be done from the Orders tab at the top of the screen, which is where you will also go to check the status of the order.

Ideally, orders will be received within the amount of time designated on the shipping option selected by the buyer (after the order is marked as “shipped”, naturally). If you do not receive your order within the allotted shipping time, you can open a dispute, which must be done within 10 days after the end of the expected shipping period. This will prevent funds from being released from escrow to the vendor, and the market will give the vendor a chance to respond before releasing the funds back to you (withdrawal addresses for refunds can be configured in the Account Settings screen of your user profile menu).

Nemesis Market URL: x7r427rknx5kw2oztfxiusfkidotsgitvrwnz33kjkmtxzdybcd2ntad.onion

Conclusion

In all, we’re not exactly sure what to make of Nemesis, but it is somewhere between highly stable and of genius design and a fly-by-night cash grab operation. The fact that there are no central wallets is a big plus as this minimizes potential losses of the average customer. We appreciate their per-order (Direct Pay) payment system, as well as the fact that they accept XMR. It would be nice if they forced PGP encryption on all communications, but the personal knowledge of how to do this is pretty much expected of any darknet market user in 2022.

Nemesis remains a bit on the small side and has seemingly attracted far more vendors than buyers, but this could change in the near future, granted they can keep running as smoothly as they have thus far, and keep things going for the long haul. For more information about the Nemesis darknet market and a chance to ask questions to its admins, we recommend checking out the forum section of their market (they do not maintain a presence on Dread as of now).