In June alone, Abacus recorded $6.3 million in sales, capturing over 70% of the market. The shutdown came after a wave of user complaints about failed withdrawals in late June. After dominating the ecosystem with over 70% market share and recording $6.3 million in monthly sales, its sudden disappearance has shocked the community. Select reference data provided by FactSet.
Therefore, the Abacus market is now integrated with Aegis, a search engine/online encyclopedia of theory and common practices related to drug manufacturing or use. However, if the access to the information about these substances is restricted or requires extensive research, making the right decision becomes challenging and even impossible. When it comes to drugs, people must make a responsible choice. Abacus is exasperated with the government’s ‘War on drugs’ policy, and they invented the harm reduction project AEGIS to embody their stance on the matter.
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Quality and validity of the data it provides justify its higher cost over other marketplaces. After AlphaBay closed, Abacus Market took its place as the world’s largest underground darknet marketplaces. Our team searched the dark web and put together a list of the most active dark web marketplaces in order to assist you in monitoring illegal trade of products, cybercrime activity, and dark web trends in the dark web space. Understanding what happens in these marketplaces is an important part of dark web monitoring.
In some cases, such as Nemesis Market’s exit, official seizure notices have appeared months after a DNM has gone offline. In 2024, its share surged to over 70%, following ASAP Market’s voluntary closure in July, 2023 and the law enforcement seizure of Incognito Market in March, 2024. In 2022, it ranked as the fourth largest Bitcoin-supporting Western DNM with 10% of market share, rising to 17% in 2023.
Will Law Enforcement Continue Targeting The Largest DNMs?
In July 2017, the markets experienced their largest disruptions since Operation Onymous, when Operation Bayonet culminated in coordinated multinational seizures of both the Hansa and leading AlphaBay markets, sparking worldwide law enforcement investigations. Later that month, the long-lived Outlaw market closed down citing a major bitcoin cryptocurrency wallet theft; however, speculation remained that it was an exit scam. From then on, through to 2016 there was a period of extended stability for the markets, until in April when the large Nucleus marketplace collapsed for unknown reasons, taking escrowed coins with it. In April, TheRealDeal, the first open cyber-arms market for software exploits as well as drugs, launched to the interest of computer security experts. In October 2013, Project Black Flag closed and stole their users' bitcoins in the panic shortly after Silk Road's shut down.
It might be that this seizure spooked the operators of Abacus, given that the withdrawal issues surfaced shortly after this event. No messages were posted by administrators, and its mirror sites failed to load, leaving buyers and sellers in limbo. Its products range from drugs, counterfeit goods, and fraud tools in exchange BTC and the privacy-focused crypto Monero.
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Just visiting these sites can attract attention from law enforcement, especially if you interact with known vendors or download suspicious content. Law enforcement agencies monitor many dangerous markets, and even anonymous browsing isn't foolproof. Even if you've never visited these markets, your personal and financial data might already be there, having been leaked through a data breach.
Abacus Market combines advanced security with intuitive design, making darknet commerce accessible while maintaining the highest security standards. Abacus Market has firmly established itself as the premier darknet marketplace since its founding in late 2021. According to analysts at TRM Labs, after users complained about payment delays, the site's administrators ceased communicating with them. Abacus Market goes offline after user complaints; TRM Labs suspects a $12M exit scam, with other theories pointing to law enforcement or admin shutdown.
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WeTheNorth, or simply WTN, was launched in 2021, and its name is a nod to the famous Toronto Raptors slogan. Additionally, it offers automatic purchases, buyer protection, and even a loyalty points program.Since its launch, it has conducted several massive data leaks. It operates both on the dark web and the clear web, making access significantly easier. Everything is conducted within the Tor network, with payments made in Bitcoin or Monero, as is customary.One of its most curious features is its daily raffle system, funded by the market's commissions.
- Launched in April 2021, MGM Grand Market is a dark web marketplace that focuses on the sale of counterfeit goods, stolen financial data, and a range of illicit digital products.
- A dark web market is an online marketplace that operates on the dark web, a hidden part of the internet that’s not accessible through regular search engines or browsers.
- A June 2016 report from the Global Drug Survey described how the markets are increasing in popularity, despite ongoing law enforcement action and scams.
- Historically, DNMs have usually cashed out their funds at centralized exchanges (CEXs).
- Unlike traditional markets, Abacus implements military-grade encryption, mandatory PGP communication, and multi-signature escrow to ensure maximum security for both buyers and vendors.
Military-Grade Security
A series of law enforcement takedowns in the last few years have shaped the 2024 drug and fraud ecosystems. Why Threat Intelligence Platforms Matter Now Traditional firewalls can’t protect against stolen passwords. This early detection allows organizations to identify and respond to threats quickly, reducing the chances of unauthorized access, financial loss, or damage to brand reputation. In addition to its emphasis on stolen credentials, 2easy Market offers a variety of cybercrime tools, such as hacking services, exploit kits, and other resources for conducting cyberattacks. Since its inception, the market has catered to criminals looking for high-quality counterfeit items, such as fake IDs, passports, and branded luxury goods. The market has become the go-to place for individuals looking to purchase malware, exploit kits, and software vulnerabilities.
Exit Scam Unfolding
Since its inception, Abacus Market has gradually increased its market share in the Western DNM ecosystem. Unlike competitors, such as Archetyp, DrugHub, ASAP Market, and Incognito Market, Abacus operated as a central deposit wallet, multisignature DNM that supported both Bitcoin and Monero. Abacus offered a wide range of illicit drugs, including stimulants, dissociatives, psychedelics, opioids, benzodiazepines, prescription medication, unlicensed pharmaceuticals, and cannabis-related products. Welcome to Daily Security Review, the premier source for news and information on security threats, Ransomware and vulnerabilities. At the time of writing, there has been no confirmation from law enforcement. However, the possibility of a silent law enforcement operation hasn’t been entirely ruled out.
As platforms vanish or are taken down, vendors and buyers are shifting towards encrypted communication channels and smaller, low-effort marketplaces to continue operations. Abacus Market, once the leading darknet marketplace catering to Western crypto users, has abruptly gone offline, sparking widespread fears of a calculated exit scam. With its focus on user privacy and operational reliability, this abacus darknet marketplace has quickly gained recognition as a trusted destination for secure online transactions. In 2024, the platform grew significantly in popularity, partly because of its strategic acquisition of users from a number of recently shut-down marketplaces, such as AlphaBay and Incognito Market, which had recently closed their doors. These markets sell a range of illegal goods and services, including drugs, weapons, stolen data, and counterfeit items, and they typically require special software like Tor for access. Darknet markets have a history of using DDoS attacks and technical difficulties as cover for exit scams, where operators freeze withdrawals before disappearing with users' money.
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At the end of August, the leading marketplace Agora announced its imminent temporary closure after reporting suspicious activity on their server, suspecting some kind of deanonymization bug in Tor. On July 31, the Italian police in conjunction with Europol shut down the Italian language Babylon darknet market seizing 11,254 Bitcoin wallet addresses and 1 million euros. However Black Bank, which as of April 2015update captured 5% of the darknet market's listings, announced on May 18, 2015, its closure for "maintenance" before disappearing in a similar scam. By September 2014, Agora was reported to be the largest market, avoiding Operation Onymous; as of April 2015update, Agora has gone on to be the largest overall marketplace, with more listings than the Silk Road at its height.
About Abacus Market 2025
The unexpected nature of Abacus’s disappearance, coupled with prior reports of withdrawal difficulties, strongly points towards this fraudulent scheme, leaving countless users and vendors with potentially lost funds. Operating since 2020, 2easy Market is a dark web marketplace known primarily for its focus on stolen data and cybercrime services, particularly targeting compromised accounts and personal information. Launched in April 2021, MGM Grand Market is a dark web marketplace that focuses on the sale of counterfeit goods, stolen financial data, and a range of illicit digital products. The withdrawal problems, lack of communication and abrupt closure bear all the hallmarks of an exit scam, a common strategy in darknet operations where platform owners vanish with user deposits. In late June, however, users began complaining about failed withdrawals and transaction errors, and earlier this month the platform became completely inaccessible.
“Arresting vendors often has a greater disruptive impact than taking down DNMs dark net marketplaces. Although the administrator of the site, known as “Vitro,” blamed the issues on a DDoS attack, and an influx of users from another marketplace known as Archetyp, Abacus users remained skeptical. Everything is well-organized and easy to find, which benefits newcomers to this environment.With a growing user base and an expanding inventory, Vortex is positioning itself as an “all-in-one” marketplace on the darknet. You won't find drugs here, but you will find tons of credentials, RDP access, CVVs, and records stolen using malware.The platform works with data collected by well-known malware such as Lumma, RedLine, Raccoon, Vidar, and Aurora.
- Never reuse wallet addresses always generate new ones for each transaction on Abacus market.
- These sites cater to cybercriminals seeking valuable data, such as credit card numbers, login credentials, and personal information.
- In the first arc of the anime series Lupin the 3rd Part V, Lupin III steals digital currency from the "Marco Polo" darknet market.
- The platform is favored by cybercriminals seeking access to accounts that can be exploited for fraud or sold to others.
- Chainalysis data shows darknet marketplace revenue dropped post-Hydra seizure in 2022 but recovered to $2 billion in Bitcoin inflows during 2024 Darknet market BTC inflow drop and shift to Monero.
Torzon Market
Abacus Market — once the largest Bitcoin-enabled Western darknet marketplace — went offline in early July 2025. TRM will continue to closely monitor the evolving DNM landscape, including emerging platforms, vendor migration patterns, and on-chain activity, to support efforts to disrupt illicit actors and safeguard the broader crypto ecosystem. Such companies’ tools enable investigators to trace administrator wallets and follow illicit flows even after a marketplace goes offline. Cases like Nemesis Market and Monopoly Market indicate that law enforcement agencies now prefer to take down DNMs without announcing it publicly — and potentially alerting vendors under investigation. Following the 2022 shutdown of Hydra Market, TRM identified new Russian-language darknet markets emerging that by 2024 accounted for more than 97% of global darknet drug revenues.
