Dark web giant Joker’s Stash just ‘retired’ with $1B in Bitcoin

Joker’s Stash is officially no more. Its owner(s) are bowing out with an estimated $1 billion worth of Bitcoin in their retirement fund.

The anonymous “JokerStash” launched the site in 2014 and it quickly established itself as a dark web market leader in stolen card details.

• In 2020 alone, Joker’s stash listed nearly 40 million illegal records.
• The site regularly hosted card details skimmed from some of the world’s best-known merchants, including Saks Fifth Avenue, Hilton Hotels, Whole Foods, and Chipotle.
• The last large-scale post had more than 3 million card details stolen from a popular American restaurant chain Dicky’s Barbecue Pit.
• In addition to Bitcoin, the site reportedly accepted payments in Litecoin and Dash.

The site announced it was shutting down for good last month and set February 15 as its official closing date.

However, blockchain analysis firm Elliptic told Reuters it went offline almost two weeks early, locking some users out of their funds.

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Nobody knows what caused the site’s operator(s) to ‘retire,’ but theories include heat from authorities, a decline in quality — even a case of COVID-19.