DrugHub, an up-and-coming marketplace which is the predecessor of the White House Market, stepped in to take over the accounts of the supermarket. Supermarket was also a new emerging market that was coming on to the scene. Supermarket was a market that was plagued with trouble to begin with and suffered  growing losses due to an XMR bug early on to the market's existence. It is widely believed that father bear stole all the users' funds after the arrest of incognito markets pharaoh after seeing  the charges that were given to him, it gave him cold feet and the second guessed  if he was built to run a market and then proceeded to steal the central wallet funds. Mama Bear decided that they wouldn't be able to run the market and relinquish the database so users would be able to be made whole via DrugHub.

Given the recent busts of Incognito and Kingdom Marketplace both markets that were both top of number one markets of their time , had sent shock waves through this dark market scene. With the marketplaces rife with busts and exit scams a lot of the user base were starting to feel hopeless. This move was actually designed to restore a lot of the users' confidence back into these marketplaces  and gain more credibility on the DrugHub side. I for one believe it is a brilliant PR move on their side. So let's get into the updates.

DrugHub Merger Update

The merger between SuperMarket and DrugHub has reached a critical phase. As part of the transition, orders from SuperMarket customers without PGP keys have been imported into DrugHub. Since SuperMarket’s system does not require a PGP key, but DrugHub does, a key pair has been generated for these customers. This is not ideal, but it allows customers to proceed with their orders.

Recovering Your Supermarket account on Drughub

1. You have to log into the official DrugHub onion and add /supermarket-recovery at the end.

2.  Complete the captcha.

3. You will receive the generated private key once your super market credentials username password and Recovery mnemonic are confirmed. If you do not have your recovery mnemonic key you will not be able to access your account. Mnemonic key phrase was issued upon creation of the supermarket account.

4. Your account will have limited functionality enabling you to manage your orders, contact support and withdrawal refunds.

5. After concluding your orders your account will be permanently purged. To continue using DrugHub, you must generate your key pair and register a new account using your key.

Background and Merger Process

DrugHub and Supermarket were relatively new. I believe drug hubs dread page states that have been around for 10 months versus Supermarket that have been around for over a year. According to sources Drughub approached dread admin Paris to propose this merger with Mama Bear the supermarket admin. There had been a stipulation with the drug Hub admin that Mama Bear receives nothing from this merger as well. The specific amount of what was owed or missing on the part of the Supermarket  has not been made public; it would be up to DrugHub to release that and there has been  no signal that that's going to be happening.

DrugHub proposed the merger to facilitate growth and improve its reputation. MommaBear, the administrator of SuperMarket, accepted the proposal, transferring responsibility to DrugHub. No alternative ideas were considered, as the proposal was designed to be mutually beneficial. Mama Bear provided a cleaned database, onion service keys and consultation on data formatting.

Key Players and Roles

Paris: Dread forum administrator was the Intermediary between DrugHub and MommaBear; facilitated communication and ensured privacy.

Dread: A darknet market forum.  Acted as a mediator and information provider, ensuring no privacy compromises.

Mama Bear: Gave the database over after it was found that Papa Bear had stolen money.

DrugHub Team : Who facilitated parsing the database and fixing everything.

It should be noted that the role of dread in this proposal was only as a mediator and information provider. They had no control of any decisions or otherwise. They only acted in a way to communicate the proposal between the parties and nothing more.

Customer and Vendor Integration

-Vendors who had valid PGP keys on SuperMarket log in on DrugHub with your SuperMarket PGP key and you will see your orders.

- Vendors who had invalid PGP keys on SuperMarket are out of luck.

- Customers who had valid PGP keys on SuperMarket (either registered or guests) log in on DrugHub with your SuperMarket PGP key and you will see your orders.

- Customers who were registered on SuperMarket but did not have valid PGP keys go to anymarketonion/supermarket-recovery and follow instructions.

- Customers who were not registered on SuperMarket and did not have valid PGP keys are out of luck. Your orders were still imported but it's up to the vendors how to proceed. 

Communication about the merger was posted on Dread. DrugHub aimed to absorb as many vendors and users from SuperMarket as possible, covering open orders from their escrow. This ensured customers felt their orders were seamlessly transferred to DrugHub.

Challenges and Solutions

The main challenge was understanding and importing data from SuperMarket’s database. DrugHub successfully addressed these challenges with technical solutions and consultation from Mama Bear. According to the DrugHub administrator the conversion of the database or the merger of the database was rather difficult because of the different workflows and database structures. A direct quote from the admin was, “It was a bit of a pain in the ass because the markets were totally different.”

Impact and Community Response

The merger has restored faith in the marketplace system for thousands of people who SuperMarket might have burned. Vendors who were compensated increased their trust in DrugHub. While Father Bear's amount remains undisclosed, DrugHub's reasonable coverage reassured the community. Overall, the response has been positive, with the hope that similar absorptions could happen in the future if markets exit.

So far there has not yet been any posts or complaints on people not being able to withdraw their funds or orders not being processed. Everything seems to be running smoothly and working correctly. According to Paris there have been vendors that have been made whole and comments on the posts itself reveals that there have been users that have also been made whole. 

The merger has set a precedent for market absorption in the darknet community, as it has never been done before in history between two different competing market admins. DrugHub's efforts to make people who have positively impacted its reputation. The community can anticipate further improvements and initiatives from DrugHub shaped by the experiences of this merger.

Enhancements and Security Measures Post-Merger

DrugHub has implemented several enhancements and security measures to ensure smoother operation and prevent future incidents like the SuperMarket exit scam.

-Mandatory PGP Keys :DrugHub now requires all user accounts to have valid PGP keys, ensuring higher security and authentication.

-Improved Data Import Processes: Scripts and tools were developed to facilitate the import and integration of data from SuperMarket, address complexities, and ensure data integrity.

-Escrow and Refund Policies :  DrugHub has absorbed open orders and provided funds from its escrow to ensure customer satisfaction, demonstrating its commitment to user trust.

-Consultation and Support : Ongoing consultation with former SuperMarket admin Mama Bear has helped streamline the integration process and address any unforeseen issues.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it's really peculiar to see the evolution of where the darknet market's started and where we are now. To me it seems that we have definitely outgrown the little hippie libertarian guy into running markets as they were full-blown corporations. The significance of this merger and historic marker is notable. People often forget the cryptocurrency system or even where it is at now, starting with people pushing limits with innovative marketing schemes, which is coming up with something new and fresh. It's refreshing to witness because I believe that the darknet market is currently the freest form of any Market. It shows that it's not all doom and gloom and these marketplaces in admins are still pushing the envelope to this day.