Opening for business in the first quarter of 2018, Cannazon Market has quietly built up a steady and loyal following, happy to take in customers and vendors looking for new places to buy and sell cannabis-related products. It has a fair amount of positive reviews across different darknet market review sites and is considered to be relatively trustworthy compared to other such markets. In order to avoid potential interference from U.S.-based law enforcement agencies, it services non-U.S. customers only, which means that if you need items shipped to the U.S., you will have to look elsewhere (CannaHome is a worthy alternative in this regard).
Cannazon is a bit different from other darknet markets as it allows you to browse the product listings before actually registering an account. This means you can get a good sense of what the market has to offer before actually registering an account. The layout of the market is quite easy to use, and it has a relatively advanced filtering options and a decent search function. This makes it simple to find not only the product you are looking for but a vendor willing to ship to your location as well.
With only slightly more than 2,000 products currently being offered, Cannazon is a bit on the small side; however, many of their vendors are quite reputable and already have hundreds of trades conducted on the market. In addition to the customary acceptance of Bitcoin, Cannazon also accepts Monero, which is great for those who value their anonymity and want to pay with a coin that cannot be traced back to them via the blockchain. Cannazon takes the security of its customers very seriously, recommending users connect to it only using the privacy-based Tails OS and provide PGP encryption for all communications on the site.
Cannazon was one of the first markets to employ a “wallet-less” system, meaning you never keep funds directly in a central wallet controlled by the market. Instead, it offers 2 payment options: Escrow or Finalize Early. This means that the risk of a hacking attempt or exit scam is cut down immensely, as there are no exchange-owned funds to be stolen. Escrowed funds can always be moved by the buyer and vendor and their transfer does not require action by their exchange. All-in-all, Cannazon seems to be a fairly dependable operation, with relatively little downtime and a wide selection of mirrors from which to choose.
Quick Facts about Cannazon Market
- Cannazon Link: 7ztto56gljr4ldz7uzx7hsi2fenhq262wpi3pnjbgvhmoky3b2xvg7id.onion
- Founded: March 2018
- Number of listings: 2,110 (as of February 2020)
- Listing categories: Weed, Hash, Concentrates, Edibles, Seeds, Other
- Coins accepted: Bitcoin (BTC), Monero (XMR)
- Multisignature escrow: Yes
- Finalize Early (FE) Allowed: Yes
- Vendor bond: $250
Before Getting Started
There are a few basic concepts which you need to be familiar with before attempting to get started using Cannazon Market or any other darknet market. First, you will need to download and install the Tor browser which will allow you to connect to websites on the darknet (of which Cannazon Market 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 when connecting to the darknet it is suggested that you purchase a VPN (virtual private network) service in order to remove the connection between your IP and Tor.
If you’d like an extra sense of privacy, it would be a good idea to install the Tails OS, which forces all internet connectivity through TOR and can be installed on a USB drive. After Tails is shut down, all traces of activity disappear from its history. More information on how to install the Tails OS can be found here. The installation of Tails is not absolutely required as you can still access all features of Cannazon using a regular Tor browser, though Cannazon does recommend its usage.
You will also obviously need to have some experience with buying and sending cryptocurrency. Learn the basics of sending Bitcoin from one address to another, how to identify and input Bitcoin addresses, how to assign transaction fees, and what a blockchain confirmation is as well. Sending BTC or any cryptocurrency to the wrong address can be a costly, irreparable error for which there is no recourse, so it’s good to have a handle on how to move it before attempting to do so for the first time.
Beware of Phishing Sites
One of the most important things you need to know before attempting to register an account at any darknet market is what the official URL(s) of the market website is (are). Many darknet markets are subject to phishing attempts in which a forged copy of the website is made and links to it are placed upon the web in an attempt to fool unsuspecting users into entering their user names and passwords into it. The phisher will then use your credentials to log in to the actual market website and drain whatever funds you may have available there.
The best way to avoid phishing websites is to only copy/paste links that you have either previously stored for safe-keeping or those that can be found on the Cannazon page at dark fail. This website only hosts links verified by the markets themselves via signature from their PGP key, and it is considered to be one of the most trusted resources for darkweb links around.
How to Register an Account
After locating a Cannazon Market URL on dark fail or DarkNetOne, copy it and paste it into your Tor browser. The landing page should look like this:
After entering the captcha, press “Enter” to continue. You will be directed to the market home page, which looks like this:
From this page, hover over the words My Account to bring up the “Register” option. Click on that to go to the account registration screen, which looks like this:
Create a unique user name that is not associated with any of your online identities, enter a strong password of 8 or more characters (a random combination of lower- and upper-case letters and numbers is recommended), repeat entry of the password, then enter in a Password Reset code which can be used to recover your password if you should forget it (ideally something easier to remember than your password), and repeat its entry as well. Before proceeding, be sure you have saved your user name, password and password reset code in a safe place where you will remember where it is.
After you have saved this information, press the green “Register” button. Your account will have been created, and you will be transported back to the market home page. At this point, there are a few more things you need to do before you can make purchases. First, hover over your user name to the right of the top search bar. You will notice that there is a red stop sign and an orange warning sign next to the Account Settings tab.
Click that tab to be brought to your Account Settings page. Here, you will need to enter in a Bitcoin (BTC) address (or XMR address if you are using Monero) for refunds, and your PGP public key so vendors and other members can encrypt communications to you.
Next, copy and paste your bitcoin master public key into the text box below, under the words Multisig configuration. The easiest way to generate a compressed public key is visit coinb.in/#newAddress and click “Generate” without changing any of the settings. This will generate a Bitcoin address, public key and private key; however you will only need the public key (the middle box):
You will not need to remember the generated Bitcoin address and private key — but you will definitely need the public key to sign off on 2/3 multisignature transactions.
After you have entered your refund address(es), Bitcoin public key and PGP public key, press the green “Update Settings” button. If everything was entered correctly, you will be transferred to the next screen, which will display a message encrypted with your PGP public key. After decrypting the message and entering the code provided in the message, it should look like this:
Enter in your code from the decrypted message and press “Save PGP Key”. If the code was entered correctly, you will be returned to the Account Settings page and see a message that says Profile was successfully saved! at the top of the screen. You will notice that the red stop sign no longer appears next to the Account Settings tab, but the orange caution sign is still there. This is a reminder to activate Two-Factor Authentication (2-FA) for your account, which will require that you decrypt a message using your PGP key upon each login. If you consider yourself to be big on security and want to minimize your chances of being phished, check the Two-factor authentication box and once again click “Update Settings”.
Browsing the Market
Cannazon’s layout is quite user friendly and you are provided with multiple filter options to narrow your search for the product which you are searching. When first logging in, you are shown popular items by default in the main screen, which are then later replaced by items related to your previous searches. In addition to a general search bar at the top of the screen, you can browse by product category, which include the following:
- Weed (divided into Indica, Sativa, Hybrid, and Other)
- Hash (divided into Afghan, Morocco, Lebanese, and Other)
- Concentrates (capsules, sprays, vape cartridges, resin, wax, and others)
- Edibles (divided into Cookies, Sweets, and Other)
- Seeds (for home growing)
- Other (pre-rolls, hemp oil, cleansing products, etc.)
Down below the product categories are the filter options, which include:
- Search term
- Price (min/max)
- Price per unit (min/max)
- Vendor (by name)
- Currency (Bitcoin or Monero)
- Shipping To / Shipping From (by country)
You will of course want to narrow down the selection by the country which you reside, which will immediately eliminate at least some products, so don’t make your search too narrow or it may yield zero results.
Each product listing will display the price (in euros, which can be changed to other currencies in your Account Settings), description, vendor name, positive vs. negative ratings, as well as Ships from and Ships to countries.
Placing an Order
After you’ve found a product you wish to purchase, click on it to bring up its details. Here you will find the basic information about the product: price in euros, payment method(s), currencies accepted, and price in accepted currencies.
Before making a purchase, we recommend clicking on the vendor name to bring up pertinent details about the vendor, like their refund policy and user ratings. Cannazon URL operates using a thumbs up / thumbs down rating system, meaning you can see the total number of positive vs. negative ratings a vendor has received from their customers. You can also see their total number of completed orders, their account creation date, last login date, and rating totals received on other markets (if applicable).
If you are satisfied with the vendor details, return to the product listing page and click the green “Add to Cart” button. You will then be transported to your cart page, which looks like this:
Here you can adjust the shipping method to that which is desired, as well as the quantity, payment method, and currency of payment. For the purposes of this guide, we will only be making a payment in Bitcoin and using the Escrow payment option (for an explanation of the difference between Escrow and Finalize Early, you can read their respective sections below). If you are content that everything is to your satisfaction, press the “Proceed to Checkout” button. You will then be brought to the Checkout screen.
Here you will enter your encrypted shipping details (name and address) for the vendor. While there is a “PGP Auto Encrypt” checkbox next to the shipping details field, it is recommended by Cannazon that you encrypt the details yourself, using your own PGP client. To find the vendor’s PGP public key, scroll down to the bottom of the screen. You will need to import the vendor’s PGP public key into your PGP client which can be done by saving it as a text file and using the client’s Import function. After this has been done, write your ship-to name and address in a text file, copy it to your clipboard, and close the text file without saving it. Then use your PGP client to encrypt the contents of your clipboard using the PGP key of the vendor as the recipient. Paste the encrypted contents into the encrypted message text field. It should look something like this when done correctly:
Next, check the “I have read and agree to the vendor`s rules” box underneath, then scroll down a bit to find a small captcha-type problem where you are asked to enter a certain character displayed in your current URL. After entering in the requested letter, click “Place your order”. Next, you will be brought to the Order Details screen.
Here you will be presented with a Bitcoin address to which you will make a payment for the exact amount shown above the payment address. You will have half an hour to complete the transaction before the order is re-priced and must be re-entered. Once payment has been detected, the order will be marked as paid. Once your Bitcoin transaction has been confirmed by the network, the order information will be passed along to the vendor, who will begin preparing your order.
You will receive updates about the status of your order in the form of notifications. After it has been received, you will need to “Finalize” the order so that payment may be released to the vendor. If your order was not received after the time period promised by the vendor, or if you have a problem with the quality of your order, you can “Dispute” it. If the Cannazon staff decides in your favor, your funds will be returned to you. If they decide in the favor of the vendor, the funds will be sent to them.
What does Escrow mean?
Escrow is the default purchase option used by Cannazon Market. For each purchase made on the market, a new multisignature address is generated representing that particular transaction, which is what your bitcoin public key is used to sign. Unlike most other bitcoin addresses, a multisig address requires the signature of 2 out of 3 parties assigned control of the address (or 2 of 2 in the case of Finalize Early). This means that a combination of the vendor and exchange can initiate the transaction to move the funds to the vendor, or if the exchange is offline for some reason, the buyer and vendor can still perform the transaction without the involvement of the exchange.
The reason why the Escrow option is default and recommended by Cannazon is because it means your funds can only be released to the vendor after you have received your product and are satisfied with it. If a dispute arises, and the market decides in your favor, your coins will be refunded back to the refund address you provided. If the market decides in the favor of the vendor, they will co-sign a transaction to release the funds to the vendor. Either way, this means that the funds are never held directly by Cannazon, meaning they cannot be stolen from them or by them in the event of a sudden closure.
What does Finalize Early (FE) mean?
Vendors who are somewhat established can earn and enable Finalize Early (FE) privileges, which means they are allowed to bypass the escrow holding period if the customer chooses to make a purchase using this method. FE is something of a rarity on Cannazon and only granted to vendors who are highly trusted, having completed several hundred orders, with a total rating of 90%+ positive feedback. Funds for FE listings are non-refundable by the market but can be refunded by the vendor at any time.
Be sure to read the most recent user feedback of a vendor before deciding to purchase a product from such a vendor who has their listings set to FE. Cannazon’s support will likely be unable to help you if you should have a problem with a FE purchase, and your only recourse will be leaving the vendor a negative rating.
How do I know if I am buying an Escrow or Direct Pay listing?
Each listing for a product will say “Multisig Escrow” and/or “FE” in the product listing page. Keep in mind that just because a vendor is allowed FE privileges, it does not mean that all of their listings will be set with that option; some may be escrow-only. Also remember that just because a vendor has FE enabled, it does not guarantee that your transaction will go smoothly. Buyers usually have the option of purchase through Escrow, but some vendors will have the additional option of FE, and some will have FE only.
Conclusion
You are now ready to get started using the Cannazon Market. By practicing good security and privacy measures, as well as some basic common sense, you are likely to have a positive experience here so long as you implement the suggestions provided for you in this guide.
Always remember that understanding what you are doing is essential before you get started doing it, especially when it comes to something as sensitive as cryptocurrency and darknet markets. While Cannazon Market is considered to be a well-respected operation among the community, keep in mind that safety and security are of the foremost importance when transacting on any darknet market. Therefore, don’t hesitate to seek out answers to questions about issues you may have before making a purchase.