Will the online drug market Valhalla be Finland’s next great export product?

Amidst the current Finnish startup buzz, many fresh and ingenious companies have sprouted from the ruins of the Nokia ICT imperium. Not all of them make their money in a way that society deems legal.

The Finnish cryptomarket Valhalla has quickly risen to become one of the darknet’s leading online shopping places for drugs and illegal products. Given the current growth pace, Valhalla may make its first million in profits this year. This is notable, especially as Valhalla is unlikely to file a tax report.

What makes Tor-based Valhalla an interesting case among current cryptomarkets is that its operation is driven by more than economic interests. Kapteeni, the leader of the site, argues that Valhalla is a strongly ideological project. He believes that cryptomarkets can eradicate violence from the drug business.

Ideology and resilience

The ideology is reflected in the rules of the marketplace. Only products that do not cause harm to others are allowed. Similar values guided the legendary Silk Road. Such values have been a rare commodity on the dozens of cryptomarkets that replaced Silk Road after its demise in 2013.

Below is a trailer for Deep Web, a documentary on Silk Road and the trial of the site’s alleged administrator. The movie is likely available on Netflix.

Resilient as hell

Valhalla was founded in October 2013 on the Tor hidden service network as a Finnish-only marketplace. Initially, the site was called Silkkitie, Finnish for Silk Road. In 2015, the site embraced an international audience and rebranded as Valhalla. As a result of numerous exit scams by bigger marketplaces, it grew to reach the top five darknet marketplaces. The site still serves Finnish customers under the old Silkkitie brand.

Today, Valhalla’s vendors offer more than 10,000 different drug listings along with bodybuilding products, self-defence items and various services. While it is one of the biggest, Valhalla is still dwarfed by its number one competitor, the ten times larger AlphaBay.

Two and a half years of operation is a long time in the darknet. It makes the Valhalla slogan “Resilient as hell” sound credible.

Darknet ethics

In an interview by DeepDotWeb, Kapteeni says his main concern is the security of the users, their anonymity and their earnings. Honesty, the crown jewel of Finnish culture, appears several times during the interview. One can use ethical vocabulary in the context of illegal drug markets.

Some vendors decline to ship products to countries with capital punishment to avoid involvement in state violence. Some claim to care about customers and do not sell to those they believe are underage. Others are in the game only for money.

Marketplaces like Black Market Reloaded and Agora told customers about plans to exit the market in advance. They gave customers a chance to withdraw their bitcoins before going offline. This is an upright thing to do considering how easy it is to grab the money and pull the plug.

None of the known marketplaces tolerate child online exploitation. While not worth applause, it is a moral statement. Valhalla and Silk Road have higher standards based on ideology. There are clearly different levels of integrity among darknet actors.

A safer way to buy drugs?

Kapteeni argues that cryptomarkets are a safer way of buying drugs. The business model removes pieces of the drug value chain where violence occurs. This includes going to dangerous places, violence related to debt collection and coerced trafficking. Products arrive by post and are paid for in advance.

Evidence suggests drugs sold on cryptomarkets are of better quality than street products. This may bring positive health consequences but also risks of overdose for those used to less purity. Buying online may mean less overspending as one has to wait for delivery. Users also have access to safety information and advice from experienced peers.

It is tempting to argue that cryptomarkets make drug use safer compared to traditional methods. This is a moral argument in favour of the markets.

The equation is not simple and reliable scientific data is not yet available. Cryptomarkets mean better availability, which can convert into higher consumption and more drug related problems. Vulnerable groups like children get better access. There is no such thing as a safe drug. People overdose, get injured and become addicted.

Whatever the total impact, more responsible vendors and operators equal lesser drug related harms.

Our previous article explains why darknet expert Antti Järventaus changed his view on the value of anonymization and Tor. Ink Tank Media supports the Tor Project by running a relay server.