- The famous Western darknet marketplace Abacus suddenly disappeared overnight.
- Withdrawal issues began in late June, causing daily deposits to plummet from $230,000 to just $13,000 by July as users lost confidence.
The most popular Bitcoin-based darknet marketplace, Abacus, has disappeared overnight, leaving thousands of its users without access to their money. Security experts TRM Labs suspect that the operators carried out an exit scam, stealing deposits made by users and closing the operation forever.
The Fall of the Biggest Darknet Marketplace
In 2024, Abacus Market had a market share of around 70% of all Bitcoin-enabled Western darknet trade and was the most popular such service. The darknet marketplace was a hub where illegal drugs such as stimulants, psychedelics, and unlicensed pharmaceuticals were sold to clients all over the world using cryptocurrencies.
The decline of the platform started when another large darknet marketplace, Archetyp was closed by European law enforcement in mid-June. This shutdown led to a huge user exodus to Abacus, resulting in the site recording the highest monthly sales of $6.3 million in June alone.
Nevertheless, the success might have been the death of Abacus since more exposure usually draws the attention of law enforcement to darknet activities. Withdrawal issues were initially reported by users in late June, and the site administrator attributed the problem to the entry of new users and hacking.
Deposits per day dropped to only $13,000 in July compared to $230,000 at the beginning of June as people lost trust and abandoned the platform. The promises given by the administrator could not stop the exodus since withdrawal issues were experienced during the last weeks of operation.
Over four years of operation, Abacus sold almost $100 million worth of Bitcoins, but this figure could have been as high as $400 million. It was a platform that supported both Bitcoin and privacy-oriented Monero cryptocurrency, and Monero transactions added a substantial amount of extra volume.
According to blockchain analysis firm TRM Labs, the operators probably opted to preserve themselves rather than keep making profits, particularly after the recent law enforcement successes. The arrest of Archetyp Market and the increasing number of users raised the profile of Abacus, which was an ideal target of the authorities.
Past administrators of darknet markets who have conducted exit scams have not been prosecuted, and this approach is appealing to operators. Nevertheless, the police could have clandestinely taken Abacus as they constructed cases against users and operators, but this is not confirmed.
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