Darknet Drama: Abacus Market Vanishes!

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Oh dear, oh dear! It seems the naughty folks at Abacus Market have pulled a disappearing act, leaving their users in a bit of a pickle 🤯. This Bitcoin-powered darknet marketplace, once the largest of its kind, has gone dark, and analysts are scratching their heads, wondering if it’s an exit scam or a sneaky takedown 🕵️‍♀️.

TRM Labs, those clever sleuths, reported that the platform’s web infrastructure, including its clearnet mirror, became unreachable in early July 📆. No seizure notice has been posted, which is a bit odd, don’t you think? 🤔 Although it’s possible that law enforcement shut down the site in a covert operation, most signs point to the operators making off with user funds, like a thief in the night 🕷️.

Trouble began brewing in late June when users reported difficulty withdrawing funds 🤑. The platform’s administrator, known as “Vito” (who sounds like a character from a dodgy gangster film 🎥), claimed on darknet forum Dread that the issues were caused by a flood of new users from recently shuttered Archetyp Market and a DDoS attack 🤖. But users were unconvinced, and deposit volumes plummeted from $230,000 per day to just $13,000 by early July 📉.

Abacus had been on a roll since its debut in 2021, when it was first known as Alphabet Market 📚. It rebranded later that year and gained traction by targeting the Australian market and offering both Bitcoin (BTC) and Monero (XMR) for transactions 📈. It’s a shame, really, as Abacus had become quite the go-to marketplace, gaining more than 70% of the Western DNM market share after Incognito Market was taken down in 2024 and ASAP Market was voluntarily closed in 2023 📊.

Total sales, according to TRM, were between $300 million and $400 million 💸. Not bad for a bunch of nefarious characters, eh? 🤑 Its operators may have made a calculated choice based on the timing of its disappearance. Following Archetyp’s June 2025 seizure, Abacus reached a record $6.3 million in monthly volume 📈.

The administrators may have decided to cash out and leave rather than run the risk of becoming the next target 🎯. Historically, DNM operators who exit at the top, like those behind Agora and WhiteHouseMarket, have often avoided prosecution 🚫. Clever, really.

TRM’s report highlights a broader trend where Western DNMs are increasingly unstable 🌪️. Vendors and users, on the other hand, often migrate to encrypted apps or low-effort replacement markets 📱. Whether Abacus was truly an exit scam or a silent bust remains unclear, but its downfall is another blow to an ecosystem under growing pressure 💥.

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2025-07-15 09:37