A Complete Guide to Revolution Market

In this guide we explain everything you need to know to get connected to Revolution Market on the darknet.

Opening for business in April 2021, Revolution Market is a smaller darknet market that claims to have been “created by activists.” The market forces PGP encryption for all messaging, supports Monero (XMR) and says it has plans to eventually become a Monero-only market, but for the time being it also accepts deposits via BTC for multisig transaction purposes. 2-FA is set by default, so once you upload your PGP key, you’ll need to decrypt a message each time you want to log into the market.

Revolution Market currently sports a bit less than 2,500 listings, which make it one of the smaller darknet markets currently in operation. Vendors appear to be concentrated in the EU and UK regions, though we did see a few who were willing to ship worldwide. The market layout itself is a hybrid of the classic AlphaBay model while incorporating newer features from other markets. Unfortunately, it is still heavily buggy and apparently has a while to go before it is capable of providing a clean user experience.

A couple of positive things about Revolution right off the bat is that they claim to give the entire month’s commissions to 10 users every fourth month. This is definitely a great way of rewarding market members for their loyalty and encouraging new ones to sign up, but at the same time it is almost impossible to verify the authenticity of this statement. Another interesting thing is that the vendor bond is about $100 cheaper for vendors who choose to pay in XMR, which makes it considerably low (~$115) compared to most other darknet markets.

We can see that Revolution does try to look out for their buyers a bit more than other markets by making it easy to see which vendors have been banned or accrued warnings because of lost disputes or other reasons. They also provide a list of scammy behaviors that vendors occasionally try to employ for the education of their buyers and do everything they can from discouraging vendors to take their customers off market. Of course, we didn’t try out their Dispute system (its always a good idea to avoid getting to this point in the first place) so we can’t say how honest the market actually is, but they seem to be more fair-minded than most others.

Basic Facts about Revolution Market

• Year founded: 2021
• Revolution Market Link: http://jagayshovxfjqpk4vs6cdjv5qbuyftrr57e5l4kwazmbyemjcasrwaqd.onion

• Cryptocurrencies accepted: Bitcoin (BTC), Monero (XMR)
• Total Product/Service listings: 3,400
• Listing Categories: Carded Goods, Counterfeit Goods, Digital Goods, Drugs, Fraud, Guides, Metals, Misc Goods, Security & Hosting, Services, Software & Malware
• Multi-signature escrow? Yes
• Finalize Early? Yes
• Cost of vendor bond: ~$215 in BTC or ~$115 in XMR

Before Getting Started

Before attempting to use Revolution Market or any darknet market, there’s a few concepts of which you should definitely have at least an intermediate level of understanding:

• The Tor browser. Installing the latest version of the Tor browser is a must before using Revolution or any darknet market. It’s also imperative that you disable JavaScript before signing up and logging in, which can be done via changing the Settings configuration.
• Cryptocurrency transacting. You must also know how to send and receive cryptocurrency before attempting to use Revolution Market, chiefly as how these concepts apply to Bitcoin (BTC) and Monero (XMR). We recommend using XMR whenever possible because of its obfuscated blockchain, but if you insist on using BTC, make sure you send it to the market straight from a mixer (rather than a personal wallet or exchange, which you should never do).
• PGP encryption. As Revolution Market forces PGP encryption, knowing how to use PGP is a must. Familiarize yourself with how to import certificates (public keys), encrypt messages, and decrypt messages with your own PGP private key before attempting to use any darknet market. This will save you a lot of headache and hassle down the road, and possibly your freedom 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 Revolution Market at your own risk.

Creating an Account

To create an account at Revolution, you must first press the “create” link from the main login screen (it is in the top line of the welcome text). The account creation process is pretty straight forward.

Simply create a unique username (not related to your personal or other online identities), a unique password entered twice, (we recommend a random mixture of upper- and lower-case letters, numbers, and symbols), a PIN number of 4-8 digits also entered twice (for confirming purchases), and a Private Code (4 digits recommended to keep it easy to remember). Next, solve the captcha and then press the button that says “Join the Revolution”. If everything was entered correctly and your username wasn’t taken, you’ll be returned to the login screen.

This time, enter your newly-created username and password (and then captcha) to log into the site. Upon logging in for the first time, you’ll be provided with a long string of characters that will serve as your account mnemonic. This is used to recover access to your account should you happen to get locked out of it somehow.

Copy the mnemonic and save it in a secure place, then paste it in the box below. After doing so, press “Enter The Revolution”. You will be logged in and are free to begin browsing the market. Note that you won’t be able to begin placing orders until after you configure your PGP key, which we describe how to do below.

Before setting the PGP key, however, you should complete the additional steps required by Revolution to ensure you have a copy of their true PGP key and fingerprint. You will need this information to be able to verify new market mirrors should the old one go down. This is the best way to make sure you aren’t signing up on a phishing site designed to steal your coins.

First, click the links highlighted in the screenshot and save their contents to a text document. Import the PGP key into your PGP utility (such as Kleopatra or GPG). Next, copy and save the Canary Link. This is a message that is regularly updated by Revolution to prove they still possess ownership of the market. Click on it, copy the contents of the signed message, and practice verifying it with your PGP utility. Verifying the message against the PGP key you just imported for Revolution should result in returning a valid signature for the market. You should do this any time you attempt to use a new mirror for Revolution Market.

Next, click on the link that says “Revolution Mirrors”. Copy the links and save them now as this is your best chance to collect alternative links for this market (you should never try to get them from random places on the internet as they are most likely phishing links). Then check the box next to “I understand.”, fill the captcha, and press “Submit”. You will be brought back to the Setting page where a yellow bar with the words “Thank you” will be displayed. You are now ready to set your own PGP key for Revolution.

Setting a PGP Key

You’ll notice that the first time you are logged in to Revolution Market, there will be a yellow bar displayed under the menu items that reads “You are now part of the Revolution, for your own safety please click account and add your PGP key.” The “Account” menu option is directly above the word “Revolution” (currently mis-spelled on the site). Click it to get started setting a PGP key. In the upper-left corner of the Account menu, you will see a profile box with your username.

Next to “PGP:”, press “click to add”. You’ll be brought to your Profile page. We recommend keeping the first text box (Profile text) blank as there is no need to potentially compromise your OpSec by revealing information about yourself unnecessarily. Instead, scroll down to the “PGP Public Key” text box. This is where you will be pasting your PGP public key that other market members will use to encrypt communications to you. It should look something like this when correctly filled:

Next, fill the captcha below and press “Save Changes”. If done correctly, your PGP key will automatically be attached to your account, and you will see the screen refreshed with a new message in green that says “We have saved the changes made”.

Note that once you have attached your PGP key, you will be required to decrypt a message using the paired private key each time you want to enter the market. Therefore, it’s especially important to get it right the first time. If you are unsure, log out of the market and log back in before making your first deposit. Be sure to paste only the Security Code portion of the decrypted message when logging in.

Making a Deposit

Unless you are making a BTC Multisig order (an option not supported by most vendors), you’ll need to deposit funds into your account first, as Revolution uses the traditional market escrow system. We recommend only depositing enough funds to cover one order at a time to avoid a massive loss if the market should suddenly disappear (for whatever reason). We also recommend using Monero whenever possible and will be doing an example of an XMR deposit for the purposes of this guide.

To make a deposit, first click on the “Wallet” menu option, which is in the middle of the top menu bar. Next, scroll down to where it says Monero Deposit, and read the instructions provided.

The long string of numbers and letters that starts with a “4” is your XMR deposit address. Copy and paste it into your personal Monero wallet to make a send (never send XMR straight from an exchange). Alternatively, you can scan the QR code presented immediately above to make a payment from a mobile device. XMR deposits require 10 confirmations from the network before they will appear in your account balance, which is at least 20 minutes.

Browsing Revolution Market

Revolution is not the easiest market to browse, although there is a search bar up at the top of each screen. Only after clicking on a category will a list of subcategories appear, and beneath that a series of search filters (which include ships from/to, FE-enabled, price range, XMR accepted, and vendor last seen). Listing categories (and subcategories) hosted on Revolution Market include:

• Carded Goods (Clothing, Digital, Electronic, Jewelry, Other)
• Counterfeit Goods (Designer Clothing, Electronics, Fake ID, Fake Money, Misc Counterfeit Items)
• Digital Goods (Ebooks, Digital Software, Fraud Software, Games, Misc Software)
• Drugs (Alcohol, Benzos, Cannabis & Hashish, Dissociatives, Ecstasy, Opioids, Other Drugs, Paraphernalia, Prescription, Psychedelics, Steroids, Stimulants, Tobacco)
• Fraud (Accounts, CCV & Cards, Dumps, Misc Fraud, Scans)
• Guides (Drug Guides, Fraud Guides, Hacking Guides, Misc Guides)
• Metals (Gold, Jewels, Misc Metals, Silver)
• Misc Goods
• Security & Hosting (Hosting, Socks, VPN)
• Services (Misc Services, Social Engineering, Tutorial Services)
• Software & Malware (Botnets, Exploits, Kits, Malware, Security Software, Trojans)

As Revolution is at present less than a year old, a lot of these subcategories have only a handful of listings in them, and several have none at all. As with most darknet markets, the biggest category is Drugs, and the biggest subcategory is Cannabis & Hashish. The second biggest is Opioids. Revolution has banned the sale of fentanyl and its analogs, knowing that there is a crackdown on these substances internationally, but especially in the Americas (US and Canada). Clicking on a listing brings up advanced information about the product:

Here we can see the following:

• Short description
• Quantity Left
• FE enabled
• XMR accepted
• Order type
• Price in BTC and XMR
• Vendor name, listing date and vendor level
• Shipping options

Below this are tabs providing:

• Item description
• Item feedback
• Item return policy

It is recommended that you peruse these tabs before placing an order with a vendor for the first time. This will help give you an idea of what to expect during the delivery process. For example, some vendors are highly selective about where they will ship to, and others have specific shipping info preferences. You should also check out a vendor’s profile before placing an order with them. To do this, click on the vendor’s name, which can be found up towards the top of the item screen, below the item photo and next to the words “Sold by”.

Here we can see a vendor who joined the market recently but was a veteran of at least five other markets (for example, we can see that they amassed 1582 feedbacks from White House Market, and more from four others). This makes them a Level 5 vendor, despite the fact that they have zero sales on Revolution Market. We can also see that the vendor is not trusted, not FE-enabled, and has had zero disputes or warnings. Below these stats are a button that can be pushed to send them a message, as well as to see their full PGP key (which is displayed immediately to the right, anyway), and their other listings.

If you plan on placing an order from this vendor, you will need to copy and paste their PGP key into your PGP utility (such as Kleopatra or GPG) in order to encrypt any communications to be sent to them. Scrolling down a bit further reveals other pertinent information the vendor has provided about themselves. Keep in mind that each vendor is a little bit different in terms of the standards under which they operate, and the standards they expect from their customers. That’s why it’s a good idea to read through this information before placing an order with them for the first time.

Placing an Order

To place an order, first click on the title of a listing to make sure you are on the listing page. Next, select the shipping option and quantity you want to purchase. Most vendors will have “Buy Now” buttons for both BTC and XMR. Since we recommend always using XMR, we will be selecting that option for the purposes of this example.

Next, press the XMR “Buy Now” button. Be sure to flip the “XMR” option from “No” to “Yes”. Then, click on the plus symbol next to “Vendor (name) PGP Key”, below the “Continue to Confirmation” button. This will reveal the vendor’s PGP key, which you must copy and import into your PGP utility. Use this key to encrypt your shipping information, and the screen will look something like this when everything has been entered correctly:

Finally, be sure to select “Regular escrow” for XMR orders, and then click “Continue to Confirmation”. Notice how the pricing info has shipped from quantity in BTC to XMR.

After pressing “Submit Order”, the Order Total will be deducted from your account balance, and the vendor will be notified to begin preparing it for delivery. Note that the vendor has three days to ship the order. If they do not do it by then, the order will automatically cancel, and the funds will be returned to your account. If you are using an FE-enabled vendor, you will be asked to mark the order as Finalized after the vendor has marked it as Shipped. Otherwise, wait until you receive the order and find it to be to your expectations before releasing the funds to the vendor.

If you do not receive the item, or it is not to your expectations, you can open a Dispute. This will pause the release of the funds and allow you to explain what happened to a dispute moderator. The vendor will also be given an opportunity to present their side of the story, and the moderator will make a decision based on all available evidence which they are presented.

If you do receive the item and everything is as expected, be sure to mark the order as Finalized and release the funds from escrow to the vendor. This is considered to be proper darknet market etiquette and a must if you plan on being a vendor’s returning customer.

Revolution Market URL: http://jagayshovxfjqpk4vs6cdjv5qbuyftrr57e5l4kwazmbyemjcasrwaqd.onion

Conclusion

Though still less than a year old, Revolution Market appears to be a legitimate darknet market operation, even if it has been slow to attract customers. There are several recognizable vendor names on the market, with feedback imported from several others, though buyers may be put off by the non-intuitive order placement system (which seems overly buggy at the moment). The central account and deposit system is also a turnoff as it raises the payout for an exit scam or other type of hacking event, but this problem can be mitigated by never keeping more than enough coins to cover one purchase at a time.