2019 has been a shocker for the Darker side of the web, with Dream Market shutting down, Reddit banning /r/darknetmarkets and quite a few DNMs being seized by law enforcement. Knowing the Dark web, if anything all this has only created more space for newer platforms to spring up, and this White House Market review deals with one such marketplace.
Note that we do not advocate or encourage you visiting any Darknet Market. This review is purely for educational purposes to bring out the Darkweb’s perseverance despite the govt’s vigorous attempts to keep it clean.
Another reason we thought of scribbling this White house Market review down is that, this particular marketplace seems to have deviated quite a bit from DNM traditions and brought its own self to the industry.
White House Market Overview
This overview would help you go through this entire White House Market review in seconds (literally). Although I recommend you go through the fine-print to get a better picture:
- Primary URL: auzbdiguv5qtp37xoma3n4xfch62duxtdiu4cfrrwbxgckipd4aktxid.onion
- Security: Escrow, 2-FA (PGP)
- Products: 593
- Payment modes: XMR
- Registration: Mandatory
- Vendor Bond: Free
Let’s get you a deeper insight into this White House Market review then.
User Interface
We mentioned tradition-deviation above, well one of them is that White House Market brought its very own unique User-interface with itself.
The top-bar is still there, the left-sidebar displaying the products too is the same as on most other Darknet Markets. What’s different is the way its products are displayed.
Here’s what it looks like:
So basically a small thumbnail of the product is displayed, followed by the name of the vendor, its category, name of the product, price and shipping source + destination.
A user has to manually hover over the different elements to get more information about them. For e.g. in the screenshot above hovering over the “title” showed me additional options to contact the seller, show the listing, or report the listing.
The other aspects, such as the top-bar is the classic “navigational-menu” which lets users hop from one section of the marketplace to the other.
A part of the welcome dashboard is also dedicated to the search-functionality for ease of product-searching.
Is the UI better than other marketplaces? That’s debatable, but it’s more or less unique that’s for sure.
Available Products
From the looks of it, the marketplace definitely looks new. Hence, I didn’t expect it to have even as many products as it offered.
As of writing this review, the marketplace has exactly 593 products. Its products are another aspect which deviated from the traditional Darknet Market route.
For e.g. it’s arguably the only marketplace which has banned “Tutorials” stating their nature of mostly being scam or not worth their salt. (Although it says they’ll make exceptions for really good guides).
Obviously “Drugs” is the category with the most products and offers as many as 470 listed products so far. It’s neatly sub-categorized into Cannabis, Ecstasy, Dissociatives, Opioids, Steroids etc.
Each sub-category further has its own sub-sub category making things even simpler and easier to find. Although the way it’s displayed (lists) probably could be changed to something better.
Fraud related items currently boast 89 listings, and constitute of products such as Bank logins, Drops, Dumps etc.
Services offered include everything from fake documents, hacking, VPNs, Carding and so on. Not the most product-rich category so far.
Forgeries provides a wide range of forged items, including Watches, Currency, Jewellery, Electronics etc.
Software is the category with the least items as of now and only offers only 4 listings. It’s primarily for Botnets, Malware, Exploits etc.
All in all, the product-categories are all there, when it comes to “numbers” it’s not overwhelming but then again it seems to be an infant in the industry for now so that’s probably acceptable.
What’s not available:
- Child Porn
- Terrorism related items.
- Hitmen/Killer services.
- Weapons (both lethal and non-lethal).
- And tutorials.
Security Features
White House Market doesn’t have the most number of security features, what it does have is the ability to make sure the available features are more than enough.
For e.g. it offers only PGP as its primary security feature. But, it makes it mandatory for users, both buyers and sellers to use PGP in order to use the Marketplace.
The products can’t be accessed without having a PGP-enabled account, similarly 2-FA too isn’t an “option” rather is mandatory.
Furthermore, all communication on the platform too must be encrypted using PGP and it’s not an option.
There obviously is the Escrow which protects both the buyers and the sellers from being scammed by the other party.
As for fund-security, they claim that all funds are stored in cold storages offline which if true is pretty impressive.
There’s an additional Bug-bounty program which lets independent security researches find and report bugs for a bounty.
Multisig transactions for now aren’t available, although there’s a statement saying they’ll make it available if enough users request it.
Vending on White House Market
Unlike some other admin-only marketplaces, White House Market has opened its gate for independent vendors.
Meaning anyone with the right products (for the marketplace) can begin vending on the marketplace.
Again unlike most other marketplaces, White House Market doesn’t charge its users for a vending account (yet). Probably considering how it’s new and still trying to gain a better user-base.
Any user with a normal account can simply click on “Become a Seller” and the account is instantly upgraded to a vendor account.
There is however the standard 5% vending fee on the marketplace for each sale like most other Darknet Markets. This fee is paid by the vendor and not the buyer.
There are a couple rules which apply to a vendor, in addition to being prohibited from selling the items which are banned on the platform.
All in all, the marketplace may attract a lot of new (and pre-established) vendors given its free vendor-account feature.
Payment Methods
It seems the marketplace was created with the intent of “taking the road less travelled by”. Why so?
Well because the Darknet is known for its use of Bitcoins, isn’t it? But White House Market has totally refrained from using Bitcoins.
Rather, it only accepts Monero (XMR) as its mode of payment. The marketplace provides users with a wallet where deposits must be made before ordering a product.
These wallets are one-time only and hence the marketplace advises users to not send funds to the same address more than once. (Even the wallet addresses are PGP encrypted and need to be decrypted before they can be used).
There’s no minimum deposit/withdrawal limit which is something on the bright side. Even though not wallet-less, the marketplace advises users to use it as a wallet-less marketplace and only deposit the required funds for one purchase.
User Transparency
User Transparency is more like a security-feature on these marketplaces. If a marketplace is transparent-enough, it can help buyers verify a vendors legitimacy and vice-versa before they initiate a trade, hence avoiding potential scammers.
White House Market may not be “the most transparent marketplace”, yet it does offer some transparency.
It provides:
- The joining date (so any user who’s been there longer, generally is more trustworthy).
- Last active status. Most recent active profiles generally are more trustworthy).
- % of Positive and Negative reviews. (Obviously a profile getting more negative reviews than positive isn’t to be trusted).
Note that these stats are shown both for the buyers as well as the vendors. While we’ve witnessed more transparent marketplaces, this sure is not a disappointment.
White House Market Pros and Cons
Like every other Darknet Market, White House Market too has its list of Pros and Cons.
Pros:
- Mandatory 2-FA/PGP.
- Verifiable Mirrors.
- Free vendor accounts.
Cons:
- Limited security features.
Final Words:
So that’s all we could dig up on the marketplace for this White House Review folks. Considering how it’s a new marketplace, I’d say there’s a lot which could go right, as well as wrong for the marketplace at this moment.
It wouldn’t be fair if we compare it to Empire Market, Grey Market or any of those more established, or aged marketplaces just yet.
The fact that it has banned “Tutorials” speaks volumes for its “integrity” and the fact that it values quality goods.
Bottomline? It’s too early for a final verdict yet, but do drop your two cents on the marketplace and this White House Market review.
