Abacus Market, as soon as the biggest Bitcoin-enabled Western DNM, has abruptly disappeared, leaving its distributors and patrons in limbo amid suspicions of a large-scale exit rip-off.
In response to blockchain intelligence agency TRM Labs, Abacus Market went offline in early July 2025, and took down its clearnet mirror and all associated infrastructure with out warning.
Abacus Market’s Mysterious Disappearance
Throughout its 4 years of operation, Abacus dealt with almost $100 million in Bitcoin-based gross sales. Nonetheless, the platform was hit by a number of person complaints in late June about stalled withdrawals.
TRM Labs stated that this can be a basic pink flag within the darknet ecosystem, which frequently precedes an exit rip-off. {The marketplace}’s administrator, referred to as “Vito,” attributed these withdrawal points to an inflow of latest customers following Archetyp Market’s seizure by legislation enforcement and ongoing DDoS assaults.
Regardless of these assurances on darkish internet boards, many customers remained skeptical. This was mirrored in a pointy decline in deposits from a mean of $230,000 each day throughout 1,400 transactions in early June to only $13,000 each day throughout 100 deposits by early July.
Launched in 2021 and initially referred to as Alphabet Market, Abacus rebranded and steadily rose in prominence. Whereas it catered to a world viewers, it notably targeted on the Australian market with tailor-made moderators and cultural messaging. Not like opponents, Abacus operated with a centralized deposit pockets and multisignature capabilities whereas supporting Bitcoin and Monero.
Its market share grew quickly following the closures of different main darknet markets, and climbed from 10% in 2022 to over 70% by 2024. As an example, the closure of Archetyp in June 2025 drove much more site visitors to Abacus, with its month-to-month gross sales quantity spiking to $6.3 million. This surge could have inadvertently sealed its destiny.
TRM Labs defined that the sudden disappearance of Abacus was doubtless an intentional exit by its operators, who could have chosen to money out and vanish fairly than threat legislation enforcement consideration because the market’s dimension and visibility elevated.
The timing aligns with a sample noticed within the darknet ecosystem, the place markets that attain peak prominence typically face a selection between risking seizure and preserving private security and income.
Whereas it stays potential that legislation enforcement seized Abacus covertly, Dread discussion board administrator Hugbunter, who maintained shut contact with the challenge’s employees, believes the shutdown was not linked to an official takedown.
Traditionally, darknet directors who exit on the peak of their market’s reputation, whether or not by means of exit scams like Evolution Market or voluntary closures like Agora Market, have largely evaded legislation enforcement seize.
Russian Darknet Markets Rise
TRM Labs additionally famous that regardless of main darknet platforms shutting down, the ecosystem continues to adapt rapidly. After Hydra Market’s 2022 closure, new Russian-language darknet markets emerged and have managed to seize over 97% of worldwide darknet drug revenues by 2024.
Whereas some Western darknet operators have tried rebrands or exit scams post-seizure, full market rebuilds now seem much less frequent.
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