Political Studies

‘I know this whole market is based on the trust you put in me and I don’t take that lightly’: Trust, community and discourse in crypto-drug markets

This study uses a Corpus Assisted Discourse Studies methodology to provide the first systematic analysis of how trust is discursively constructed in crypto-drug markets. The data come from two purpose-built corpora. One comprises all the forum …

Corpus Linguistics on the Silk Road(s): The Escrow Example

The application of Corpus Linguistics to the concept of innovation in crypto-drug markets This Situation Analysis is a methodological paper intended to supplement the research findings presented in GDPO Policy Brief 11, Horton-Eddison, M. & Di Cristofaro, M., Hard Interventions and Innovation in Crypto-Drug Markets. This analysis shows the application of Corpus Linguistics methodology and of CADS (Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies) approach to data extracted from Crypto-Drug Market (CDM) communities. The aim is twofold: First, to demonstrate how the analysis of textual data created by CDM users can help pin-point the impact that ‘real-life’ events (in this case, the FBI’s seizure and closure of Silk Road, and the theft of a substantial amount of Bitcoin on Silk Road 2) have on online crypto-communities.

Hard Interventions and Innovation in Crypto-Drug Markets: The Escrow Example

KEY POINTS Comparative analysis of mass data crawled from Silk Road and Silk Road 2.0 reveals that there is some evidence to corroborate assertions that ‘hard’ law enforcement practices may contribute to the adoption of specific technological innovations in crypto-drug markets Specifically, the study applied a corpus linguistics assisted discourse analysis methodology to crypto-drug market community attitudes toward escrow technologies. Although a subsequent theft of Bitcoin held in Silk Road 2.

Trust in Crypto-drug Markets

Using Linguistics to profile transactional behaviour in crypto-drug markets.