Trust, infrastructure and sociopolitics in online drug markets: an exploratory socio-technical analysis of cryptomarket uptake in Europe and Latin America

Abstract

Abstract

Abstract Online drug markets using encryption technologies have expanded primarily in consumer regions of the Global North. This article uses an exploratory approach to examine why cryptomarkets have flourished in Europe while remaining marginal in the traditional drug-producing region of Latin America. It argues that cryptomarkets operate as socio-technical infrastructures dependent on historically embedded forms of trust, sociopolitics, and drug-use cultures. This paper proposes an analytical framework structured around four interrelated socio-technical dimensions exploring regional differences in cryptomarket uptake: (a) social practices and cultures of trust, (b) socio-political embeddedness of drug markets, (c) trust in technological and postal infrastructures, (d) and trust in financial systems and digital payment mechanisms. We suggest that in Europe, cryptomarkets form sophisticated ecosystems supporting recreational users, while Latin American contexts remain constrained by structural inequalities and infrastructural limitations. By situating cryptomarkets within broader institutional and sociopolitical contexts, the paper offers an exploratory conceptual contribution to the socio-technical transformation of illicit drug trade and outlines a research agenda for future empirical study of digitally mediated illicit goods.