We Are Amsterdam Market – Technical Overview & Operational Assessment

We Are Amsterdam (WAA) surfaced in late-2022 as a mid-sized, narcotics-focused bazaar running on the Tor network. It adopted the now-standard account-wallet model, offered both Bitcoin and Monero rails, and pitched itself to English- and German-speaking buyers who wanted the convenience of ASAP or Bohemia but with tighter OPSEC and a smaller, vetted vendor pool. Twelve months in, the market has weathered two lengthy DDoS campaigns, one confirmed seizure scare, and the exit of its original head-admin “Klapper.” The platform is still online—though with fewer than 4,000 active listings—and continues to attract privacy-centric shoppers who dislike the bloat of larger venues.

Background & Evolution

WAA’s launch coincided with the post-Wall-Street exodus; many displaced vendors were looking for a home that promised quick withdrawals and no JavaScript. The founding crew forked the standard “Daeva” codebase but rewrote the order-flow to support per-order 2FA, removed the internal exchange, and added a dead-man switch that locks wallets if the main server disappears for more than 36 h. Early adoption was slow—partly because the team refused to pay for large-scale advertising—but picked up after the Kerberos exit scam in February 2023, when several high-volume sellers migrated their customer bases over. By mid-2023 WAA hovered around 650 active vendors and 45 k customers; today those numbers are closer to 380/28 k, reflecting both natural churn and the tighter vetting policy introduced after the seizure scare.

Feature Set

From a user perspective the market behaves like a trimmed-down version of ASAP:

  • Standard escrow with 5-day auto-finalise, extendable twice for 3 days each
  • Optional “early-finalise” for trusted buyers (≥ 10 completed orders, ≤ 2 disputes)
  • Per-order XMR/BTC selection; no on-site conversion, no shitcoins
  • Built-in PGP tool for users who refuse to paste keys manually (client-side, open-source implementation)
  • Simple mirror rotation page reachable over authenticated v3 onion; mirrors signed with the staff key 0xF9C41D3E
  • Vendor bond: fixed 0.03 XMR or 0.001 BTC, refunded after 200 sales and 97 % positive feedback
  • “Stealth mode” listing option: title and image blurred for users without 10 prior buys

Search filters cover ship-from/to regions, accepted coins, FE status, and price brackets; there is no “filter by escrow type,” which keeps the UI lightweight but forces manual vetting.

Security Model & Escrow Mechanics

WAA runs on a three-server setup—application, database, and coin daemon boxes—each isolated via Tor hidden services and no clearnet shortcuts. Wallet keys are stored on an air-gapped machine; hot wallet holds < 5 % of deposits, topped up every 4 h. Multisig is technically supported (2/3 for BTC, 2/2 for XMR) but only 11 % of listings enable it—mainly bulk vendors who already have a reputation for co-signing promptly. Disputes are handled by a rotating team of three moderators; average resolution time last quarter was 38 h, with 72 % ruled in favour of buyers. Staff publishes a monthly transparency report (signed, PDF) that lists dispute counts, withdrawn commissions, and server uptime; the March 2024 edition shows 97.2 % uptime, driven down by a 9-hour rolling DDoS that triggered the dead-man switch.

User Experience & Interface

Design is Spartan: no JS, no captcha loops, and a single 85 kB CSS skin. Page load times over Tor Browser 13.0.5 average 2.8 s on a 50 Mbit circuit, noticeably faster than heavier rivals. Registration asks for username, password, and a six-digit PIN; 2FA (TOTP or PGP challenge) can be enabled immediately after. The order flow is linear: add to cart → select coin → fund wallet → place order. Vendors can upload up to three images per listing, max 400 kB each; larger media is off-loaded to an optional i2p mirror that serves static files. Mobile users report that the layout works fine under Onion Browser (iOS) and Tor Browser Alpha (Android), although image zoom is disabled. One minor bug: the “extend escrow” button occasionally returns a 404; refreshing the onion mirror usually fixes it.

Reputation & Community Perception

On dread, WAA averages a 4.1/5 vendor trust score (≈ 1,800 reviews). Praise centres on fast withdrawals and responsive staff; complaints centre on limited listing diversity and the shrinking vendor pool. Notable red flags: a phishing clone appeared in December 2023 that reused the genuine SSL cert fingerprint but hosted on a typo-squat onion; staff neutralised it within 24 h by updating the signed mirror list. No verified large-scale exit scam has occurred, although a mid-tier vendor “RelaxTabs” disappeared with ≈ 8 k USD in escrow last August—an incident that moderators resolved by refunding 60 % from the market’s insurance fund. That fund (currently 82 XMR) is visible on-chain and topped up with 10 % of monthly commission income, a transparency measure few competitors match.

Current Status & Reliability

As of April 2024 the main onion bounces between three mirrors every 48 h to mitigate harvesting and DDoS. Withdrawals process within 15 min for XMR and ~45 min for BTC (one confirmation), well within industry norms. Listing growth is flat: +2 % over the last 90 days, with most new entries being EU-to-EU stimulants or benzos. The admin team is recruiting additional moderators but insists on PGP-signed applications and a 0.5 XMR “good-faith” bond to weed out LEA infiltrators—a policy borrowed from the old White House market playbook. Overall uptime for Q1 2024 was 96.8 %, beating Bohemia (93 %) but trailing Cocorico (98 %).

Conclusion

We Are Amsterdam occupies a middle ground: tight enough OPSEC and transparent enough stats to keep seasoned buyers engaged, yet small enough that inventory diversity and liquidity lag behind the top tier. For users who value quick XMR withdrawals, reliable multisig, and a no-JS interface, WAA remains a workable option—provided they verify mirrors through the staff key and insist on escrow for new vendors. The shrinking vendor pool is the main strategic risk; if staff cannot reverse the decline, volume could fall below the critical mass needed to keep disputes and support timely. Conversely, if the team expands curation without compromising security, WAA could solidify its niche as the “quiet, efficient” market of 2024-25. As always, compartmentalise identities, keep PGP keys offline, and never trust a marketplace longer than necessary.