Plain language
Onion, Tor, and darknet market terms
The words you will meet around darknet markets, defined without the marketing. Short, and in the order they usually come up.
Torzon Market onion addresses
7iaj3wjpffjg5acgxqqbjkerdwkcxrzetp4gnsoofaa5lukrmuhcdjad.onionatmqbitgx7g5c4gdc4t23erlpvub7c3agbmky6on6vxcfs26fuj3usqd.oniondgkozv5myc3lfpedjl2khhk6icok2xm5wmc5vg42xvbyh4fs345mopyd.onionevwigej45n3nywbn3aqdun4o6cgjyfgxf2ts7lm6no3uotxanpeuosad.onionfr6bvsrcx7ajxou7kyme5otctzdmpllum6iqootcjnwmzepuuams2tad.onionh3h66vql4ucodjre4bluwtywhoq2bjqxpgvxgv2xo2nkui5ney6gslqd.onionjcyjjcu4oocqkgxyq4d6mmbuuha5db7iz3zifhf2cm6n6m5mvogxwqyd.onion
All of them open the same market with the same account, balance and orders. There is no primary address and the order is not a ranking. Copy one, paste it into Tor Browser, and check the address bar before you sign in.
01The basics
- .onion address
- A web address that only resolves inside the Tor network. It ends in .onion instead of .com. You cannot open it in a normal browser over a normal connection.
- v3 onion
- The current generation of onion addresses. They are 56 characters long before the .onion. The old v2 addresses were 16 characters and have mostly been retired.
- Tor
- The network that routes your traffic through a series of relays so no single point sees both who you are and where you are going.
- Tor Browser
- A build of Firefox configured to route everything through Tor. It is the client you use to open onion addresses.
- onion service
- A website that is served only through Tor, at an .onion address. The market itself is an onion service.
02Getting around
- mirror
- A separate onion address that reaches the same market. Markets run several so that if one is seized or blocked, the others keep working. All mirrors show the same catalog and the same account.
- darknet market
- An online store that runs as an onion service, so buyers and the store do not have to reveal their real addresses to each other.
- clearnet
- The regular, non-Tor internet. A clearnet proxy loads an onion through a normal connection, and that proxy can see your whole session.
- .onion.to / tor2web
- Two examples of clearnet proxies. Convenient, but they sit between you and the market and can see your password and your wallet.
- circuit
- The chain of relays Tor routes a connection through. Starting a new circuit can fix a stuck or slow connection.
- bridge / obfs4
- An unlisted Tor relay that helps you connect when ordinary entry nodes are blocked. obfs4 is the bridge type Tor Browser ships with built in.
03On the market
- escrow
- The market holds your payment and releases it to the vendor after you confirm the order. It is the mechanism that makes buying from a stranger possible.
- wallet seed
- The set of words that controls a wallet. Anyone with the seed has the funds. A login screen should never ask for it.
- PGP
- A signing and encryption system. Markets use PGP signatures to prove a message, like a mirror announcement, really came from them.
- NoScript
- A Tor Browser add-on that blocks scripts by default. It raises the bar against some attacks but can break pages if overused.