The most profitable dark web marketplace in the Western world, Abacus, went offline earlier this month, likely due to an exit scam, according to industry experts.
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Blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs reported that users of the Abacus Market platform began reporting withdrawal issues in late June. This is a common warning sign of an exit scam, which occurs when administrator suddenly shuts it down — taking users’ funds with them.
Although the platform administrator, known as “Vitro,” attributed the problems to a DDoS attack and an influx of users from another marketplace, Archetyp, Abacus users remained skeptical.
It is possible that Abacus was shut down due to a government crackdown, although no official announcement has been made yet. More likely, according to TRM Labs, is that Vitro saw what happened to the previous market leader, Archetyp, and decided to disappear before drawing the attention of the police and prosecutors.
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According to Chainalysis, Abacus Market’s revenue grew 183% year-over-year in 2024, partly due to the closure of other similar sites. The platform primarily specialized in selling drugs and precursor chemicals, but also featured cybercrime, fraud services, counterfeit products, and even infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS).
According to TRM Labs, law enforcement now seems to prefer to focus on the sellers operating on these dark web markets, rather than taking down the platforms themselves.
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Based on the above, a related and worrying phenomenon is the evolution and professionalization of dark web markets. More and more platforms operate in a way that mimics legitimate online businesses: they have customer support, rating mechanisms, and even guarantees for transactions. This results in increased trust between users and sellers, which in turn strengthens demand and illegal activities.
Source: infosecurity-magazine
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