THE DARK WEB AND CRYPTOCURRENCIES: A “TRUST” DILEMMA FOR DIGITAL COMMERCE?

Abstract

The dark web is a layer of the internet that is encrypted and not accessible via ordinary browsers. It offers users

the ability to securely and anonymously access the internet without being traced. This is accomplished via tools

created through the Tor project. The dark web contains legal resources (32%)such as forums, radio service and

illegal (68%) resources/ materials such as the avenue for blackmarket activities including selling drugs, child

pornography, malware servers, assassination services etc. With the growth in the digital commerce, the dark

web poses a threat to the core of what enables business “trust”. Companies running digital commerce platforms

need to offer assurances of trust and security to their clients as a way of instilling confidence in them and as a

competitive advantage. This paper uncovers threats posed by the dark web to conventional digital commerce

markets and proposed ways of mitigating them.