Abacus Market, once the most prominent dark web marketplace supporting Bitcoin payments and serving a large Western user base, vanished from the internet in July 2025. All signs point to a classic exit scam – administrators likely disappeared along with users’ funds.
Growing suspicion – or was it a law enforcement takedown?
TRM Labs reports that the Abacus team likely shut down the platform voluntarily and fled with a significant amount of crypto. However, some experts argue that a covert law enforcement operation could have taken place – although no agency has yet claimed responsibility for the takedown.
The timing is suspicious: Abacus went offline just three weeks after authorities shut down rival Archetyp Market on June 16, 2025.
Warning signs in June
Users started reporting withdrawal issues in June. The marketplace’s administrator, known as "Vito", posted on the Dread forum, blaming the delays on an influx of new users from Archetyp and DDoS attacks. The community, however, remained skeptical.
📉 Deposit data tells a different story:
🔹 Between June 1 and 27, Abacus processed over 1,400 transactions per day, totaling around $230,000 USD daily.
🔹 From June 28 to July 10, daily deposits dropped to $13,000 across only 100 transactions.
From Alphabet to the top of the darknet
The marketplace originally launched in September 2021 as Alphabet Market, before rebranding to Abacus two months later. While available globally, the team put strong emphasis on attracting Australian customers – hiring a local moderator and using Aussie slang in site text.
Its product catalog included:
🔹 Stimulants
🔹 Opioids
🔹 Psychedelics
🔹 Benzodiazepines
🔹 Prescription drugs
🔹 Unlicensed medications
🔹 Cannabis-based products
Payments were accepted via Bitcoin and Monero, setting it apart from competitors like DrugHub, ASAP Market, and Incognito Market.
Rapid rise, sudden fall
Abacus quickly gained traction:
🔹 In 2022, it held around 10% of all Bitcoin-based transactions on Western darknet markets.
🔹 In 2023, that share grew to 17%.
🔹 Following the shutdown of ASAP Market (July 2023) and seizure of Incognito Market (March 2024), Abacus’s market share surged past 70%.
June 2025 marked its peak – with $6.3 million in sales, Abacus had its best month ever. That success may have sealed its fate.
Did they decide to vanish before getting caught?
Well-known Dread administrator Hugbunter claims to have maintained long-term contact with the Abacus team. So far, he says there's no evidence of law enforcement involvement. However, previous cases – such as Nemesis Market – show that official police announcements often appear months later.
After ASAP Market went offline, Abacus saw a 20% surge in traffic. When Archetyp collapsed in June 2025, thousands of its users migrated to Abacus overnight, fueling its record-breaking sales.
Success comes at a price
Reaching the top of the darknet trade has its risks. Greater visibility means increased chances of infiltration or legal action. If the Abacus team sensed law enforcement closing in, they may have chosen safety over profit, following the legal troubles faced by the Archetyp Market team. After nearly four years online and likely hundreds of millions in revenue, they might have decided it was the perfect time to disappear, as TRM Labs suggests.
The darknet never sleeps
After the 2022 takedown of Hydra Market, a wave of new Russian platforms emerged, dominating over 97% of global darknet drug sales by 2024.
In the West, however, most new marketplaces are "lightweight" operations – including 3DogsMarket, Drugola Market, and Squid Market – built on insecure templates, designed to make quick profits before vanishing. Despite its scale, Abacus may have followed the same pattern.
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