What Nexus is, and why it lasted

Plenty of markets come and go in a season. Nexus is one of the ones that stayed, and the reasons it stayed are the reasons it is worth using.

Nexus is a marketplace that lives entirely on the Tor network. There is no version of it on the normal web, so anything you find on clearnet wearing the name is a copy. You reach the real thing through one of its onion addresses, and this handbook keeps a verified set at the bottom of every page.

Age is the whole story

The single most useful fact about Nexus is that it has been running for a long time by the standards of these markets. Age is not bragging here, it is a feature. It means the vendor list has real history behind it, sellers with hundreds of completed orders and reviews stretching back, rather than fresh accounts you have to take on trust. When you can read a long clean record before you buy, you are buying with your eyes open.

Reputation that does not reset

Markets move between onion addresses often, whether to shrug off an attack or just to stay ahead. On Nexus, moving to a different address changes nothing about your standing. Your account, your balance and every vendor's history are the same market behind a different door. That continuity is part of why the reputation system is worth anything at all.

What it takes and how it holds deals together

Nexus accepts Bitcoin and Monero, and it runs 2 of 3 multisig escrow so that no single party can move your money alone. Those two facts get a chapter each further on. For now the thing to hold onto is that Nexus is old, deep and careful, and that is exactly what you want under your feet when you are spending with strangers.