The Abacus Market, the largest Western Darknet market powered by Bitcoin, has lost a bright exit scam.
Its website and infrastructure, including its ClearNet mirror, is not accessible, TRM LABS Says In a report on Monday. The disappearance led to the TRM to believe that “operators probably conducted an exit scam, shutting down operations and missing out on users’ funds.”
The TRM Labs said the closure could be the result of attention from law enforcement, as abacus market clocking was a monthly note after closing the Archetyp market, One of the longest running web marketsIn the middle of June.
In late June, users began reporting removal issues, prompting the abacus administrator known to the “Vito” handle to ensure that users whose problems are only the result of the flow of new people and a Distributed a decline-of-service attack.
“This behavior is in line with the well -known exit scam patterns seen in other Darknet markets.”
Users began to flee to drugs despite the certainty, and the sun -deposits dropped in the last weeks, down from an average sun -day deposit of $ 230,000 to most June to $ 13,000 days -from June 28 to July 10.
Abacus offered a wide range of illicit drugs, including stimulants, psychedelics, unlicensed pharmacists, and operated a Central Deposit Wallet that supported the same Bitcoin (Btc) and Monero (Xmr).
Success can be caused by shutdown
Abacus is one of the leading Darknet markets that interacts with Bitcoin.
Europol One of the longest running markets of the dark web is shutter.
A similar situation played after the ASAP Market closure in July 2023, with a 20% increase in Abacus’s volume compared to the month before.
Its part of the ecosystem that supports the Western Dark Market Ecosystem also spies in more than 70%, following ASAP’s closure and the seizure of Incognito’s Incognito Market Law in March 2024.
The TRM labs say users usually move to the nearest available platform when a dark market collapses, especially if it is a “big and respectable market.”
“Markets reaching the top of the ecosystem, in terms of volume, user base, list, and reputation, often become target priority for law enforcement,” the TRM Labs said.
During its four -year operation, Abacus developed nearly $ 100 million in Bitcoin (Btc) Sale, but TRM labs said because Privacy Coin Monero has been incounted For a large volume of sales, its actual sum may be between $ 300 million and $ 400 million.
Income and no consequences for peers
The TRM Labs think Abacus operators may also have “lost motivation to continue” or choose to come out of the ecosystem to “maintain their freedom and financial acquisitions.”
“Faced with the decision between seeking income and self-preservation, Abacus’s admins have probably chosen the latter to seize Archetyp and advancing new users who have raised Abacus’s profile.”
Previous administrators of other dark market operators who voluntarily exit, such as ASAP Market and Agora Market, or conducted an exit scamLike the Evolution Market, managed to escape without being caught by law enforcement, according to TRM Labs.
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The Darknet Marketplace can be obtained already
The TRM Labs said there was also a chance that law enforcement was covertly seized the market and remained silent about the operation as they combined the evidence and monitored those involved.
However, the firm also said that the administrator of the Dark Web Discussion Dadrus Dread, who was about to interact with the Abacus team, doubted the law enforcement behind the market loss.
“In some cases, such as the release of the Nemesis Market, the official notice of the seizure has appeared month after a DNM (DarkNet Market) has disappeared,” added the TRM Labs.
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