Mars Market addresses
Three published addresses for the same market. Copy rather than retype, and check the signature once you are through.
marsautkudspgk6j23cxdtrk36ae4fpis2eoe7izu5y2rsksvmfji2ad.onion
marshjhtog245vzjzcicnmv2ci6yljibvdm4pngq5kmkfvcutppboxad.onion
marsiujka6lrsaqpnxiwvknthhzsrlmq77mnl2fi62guc4lwxif65syd.onion
This list is published, not monitored. An address that opens is not an address that is genuine, and the check that settles it takes under a minute.
What none of this protects against
Every protection described on this site is real and narrower than people assume. This page is the collected version, because the gap between those two is where nearly everything goes wrong.
The collected limits
| Protection | Covers | Does not cover |
|---|---|---|
| Signature check | Whether you are where you think you are | Whether the party is honest, whether your machine is trustworthy, anything after login |
| Escrow | The platform moving funds alone | A vendor who does not ship, your own account compromised, anything paid outside it, a parked balance |
| Second factor | A leaked or reused password | A live copy of the login page, anything running on your machine |
| The currency | The chain hop | The exchange record, timing at the boundary, custodial services, your own device |
| Vendor reputation | Who to deal with | When somebody changes their mind, and accounts that changed hands |
| Published address list | Which addresses are in use | Whether the party answering is genuine |
The failure mode this creates
People who verify carefully sometimes become less careful about everything else, because they feel covered. That is the predictable consequence of holding one very strong guarantee in a situation full of weak ones, and it is worth watching for in yourself.
A verified arrival at the genuine market still leaves you exposed to a vendor who does not ship, a balance sitting where it should not, a password reused somewhere else, and a machine you have not thought about. None of those are affected by the signature at all.
Six questions and what answers them
| Question | What answers it |
|---|---|
| Am I where I think I am? | The signature check, and nothing else |
| Is my account safe if a password leaks? | A second factor, and credentials used nowhere else |
| Is my machine trustworthy? | How you set it up and what you install. Nothing here can establish it. |
| Will this vendor deliver? | Reputation, with all its known limits |
| Is my money exposed? | Whether it is committed to an order or sitting as a balance |
| Can this be linked back to me? | What happened at the boundary, before any of this started |
Six questions, one of which verification answers. This site concentrates on that one because it is the only one where the answer is definitive and cheap, not because it is the only one that matters.