In June, it saw peak sales of $6.3 million, but user trust plummeted in early July.
Abacus Market, the leading darknet marketplace for Bitcoin transactions in the West, has abruptly gone offline in what experts suspect to be either an exit scam or a covert law enforcement takedown.
According to blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs, and reported by BleepingComputer, the marketplace's disappearance, without warning or seizure notice, mirrors patterns seen in previous silent shutdowns or fraudulent exits.
Launched in 2021 as Alphabet Market, Abacus quickly gained dominance, accounting for 70 percent of Western darknet market activity by 2024 and facilitating an estimated $300 million in cryptocurrency transactions, including hard-to-trace Monero payments.
In June, it saw peak sales of $6.3 million, but user trust plummeted in early July amid withdrawal issues and steep transaction declines.
The administrator, "Vito," attributed delays to a post-Archetyp Market user influx and DDoS attacks. However, users remained skeptical.
Written by
Dan Raywood is a B2B journalist with 25 years of experience, including covering cybersecurity for the past 17 years. He has extensively covered topics from Advanced Persistent Threats and nation-state hackers to major data breaches and regulatory changes.
He has spoken at events including 44CON, Infosecurity Europe, RANT Forum, BSides Scotland, Steelcon and the National Cyber Security Show, and served as editor of SC Media UK, Infosecurity Magazine and IT Security Guru. He was also an analyst with 451 Research and a product marketing lead at Tenable.
