The marketplaces are also a hotbed for cyberattacks, and the threat of law enforcement means they could be shut down at any time. All transactions on White House Market are conducted using cryptocurrency, and the market uses a PGP-based encryption system to protect user data. White House Market offers a wide range of products, including drugs, digital goods, services, and more.
The integration of blockchain-based smart contracts is also becoming widespread, automating secure transactions and reducing the likelihood of fraud. Vendors on Incognito paid a registration fee and a 5% commission on every sale. That revenue went to fund the site’s operations, including servers and what the DOJ described as “employee” salaries.
Abacus Market
In an extraordinary twist, Lin had previously worked for Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he trained law enforcement officials on the very blockchain analytics techniques used to take down platforms like his own. Abacus Market — once the largest Bitcoin-enabled Western darknet marketplace — went offline in early July 2025. TRM Labs assesses the event was likely an exit scam, though a covert law enforcement seizure cannot be ruled out. However, when a DNM collapses — especially a large and reputable market — its users typically migrate to the nearest available platform. For example, ASAP Market’s closure likely prompted its vendors and buyers to migrate to Abacus, as evidenced by a 20% increase in Abacus’s volume compared with the month before ASAP Market shut down.
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Fill out the form to speak with our team about investigative professional services. This not only helps protect your identity but also contributes to your overall cybersecurity in the digital age. Unfortunately, the increasing availability of personal information on the Dark Web results in lower costs—and consequently, a higher likelihood—that your accounts will be compromised. Install anti-virus or other anti-malware software on your personal computer to scan for malware. While no information is stolen during a DDoS attack, it can be used for extortion or to conceal other hacking activities.
Monero Is Standard
In that time, it facilitated more than USD 100 million in drug sales, including hundreds of kilograms of cocaine and methamphetamine, alongside heroin, LSD, MDMA, oxycodone, ketamine, and misbranded prescription drugs. Department of Justice announced the results of Operation RapTor—an unprecedented international crackdown on darknet narcotics trafficking. Darknet marketplaces in 2025 illustrate a resilient and evolving underground economy. Major active platforms include Abacus, Russian Market, BriansClub, and Exodus. Law enforcement takedowns, such as Archetyp, demonstrate both impact and adversary adaptation.
This behavior was consistent with known exit scam patterns seen across other darknet markets. Cases like Nemesis Market and Monopoly Market indicate that law enforcement agencies now prefer to take down DNMs without announcing it publicly — and potentially alerting vendors under investigation. This allows them to compile intelligence and make arrests at optimal moments. In the interim, many in the DNM community will assume the marketplace performed an exit scam and continue their activity on other platforms. Bayonet/GraveSac, and has become the preferred method for disrupting the ecosystem.
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The investigation revealed that Hydra had more than 19,000 sellers and a total of 17 million customers during its two years of activity. Darknet markets, the hidden online bazaars where illicit goods from drugs to hacking tools are bought and sold, demonstrated surprising staying power in 2023. A new report from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis sheds light on how these underground markets rebounded financially last year, even as law enforcement continued efforts to investigate and shut them down. Mega Darknet Market is the dominant drug supply source for drug vendors on other darknet sites, holding a 63.4% share of that market. When looking at darknet drug markets serving Russia-based customers, Kraken Market captured 30.9% of market share, with Blacksprut and Mega Darknet markets closely following. As for drug markets serving Western customers, ASAP Market held a 25.0% share, followed by Mega and Incognito.
Dutch National Police Share Depth And Sophistication Of Genesis Market Identity Theft Operation
The forum was taken over in 2023 by its current administrators (aliases ShinyHunters and Baphomet) from Conor Brian Fitzpatrick (alias pompompurin) after he was arrested by U.S. law enforcement in March. Fitzpatrick, in turn, had originally taken over the forum and rebranded it to BreachForums from its original name, RaidForums. But for the thousands of users left in the dark—many now locked out of their cryptocurrency funds—the damage appears to be done. Some dark web marketplaces even host content that’s not just illegal but extremely harmful, so it’s really important to understand the risks before diving in.
White House Market also has a strict policy against listing certain types of goods and services, such as weapons and child pornography. Freshtools is a unique marketplace in that it does not only provide the stolen data, but it allows criminals to purchase MaaS which can cause further damage to the victims. It is one of the most active and up to date markets and always provides new and updated malware and data. But not everything is that terrifying, as Deep Web facts show that only 6.7% of Tor’s daily users engage in illegal activity on the Dark Web. The vast majority rely on the Deep Web and the Dark Web to provide them with freedom and anonymity while browsing the internet. More importantly, the darknet is a safe haven for people from countries with oppressive regimes, as it allows them to securely send and receive information and access content that is unavailable where they live.
Dark Web Statistics By Largest Marketplaces
However, the lower volume is likely not due to these services disappearing altogether. Cryptocurrency cash-out services are not only advertised on Dark Web markets; this has never been the case. However, the takedown of Hydra coincided with a large increase in posts discussing cryptocurrency cash-out and mixers on forums in Flashpoint collections.
In that sense, the history of the Deep Web is as old as the history of the internet. But if we focus solely on the Dark Web, stats show its history dates back to 2000, when Ian Clarke released Freenet, his thesis project. A student at the University of Edinburgh, Clarke aimed to create a system of data storage and retrieval that would be decentralized, thus allowing for anonymous file sharing and communication. Only two years later, his thesis project would serve as the basis for the Tor Project, a non-profit group that launched the anonymous Tor browser in 2008.
Only 67% Of Tor’s Daily Users Engage In Illegal Activity On The Dark Web
The forum strongly resembled the interface of RAMP and had several sections dedicated to sale of access, malware, ransomware, and databases. During its time online, staff members of Knight, Qilin, qBit and other ransomware gangs advertised their affiliate programs, looking for new partners. While the darknet market ecosystem showed signs of recovery in 2023, it has yet to return to the revenues it experienced before the Hydra Marketplace closure in 2022, given the financial success of that operation. It’s noteworthy that, despite some unusual marketing efforts, no other darknet market has since assumed Hydra’s mantle of being the one-stop-shop for illicit products and services. Though the sanctioning and closure of fraud shop Genesis Market occurred last year, there were no other sanction events for the darknet market ecosystem, or major market takedowns. We’ll continue monitoring darknet market trends in 2024, and are curious to see what new tactics markets and fraud shops may employ to find more customers.
- With a keen interest in software, Barry writes about its benefits and how it can improve our daily lives.
- The latest findings from the blockchain analytics authority, Chainalysis, in their “2024 Crypto Crime Report,” unveiled on February 29, point to a notable resurgence in darknet market activities.
- Find unique offerings and connect with trusted vendors, all with the assurance of privacy and security.
- This is likely due to the fact that cryptocurrency prices have been largely stagnating in H and H1 2023, which resulted in less interest shown by the mainstream population.
In fact, the Dark Web is a small subset of a much larger Deep Web — a part of the internet containing all the pages hidden from search engines for privacy and security reasons. Meanwhile, the visible part of the internet all users can access is known as the Surface Web, and it hosts an estimated 19 terabytes of data. We’ve heard a lot about the Dark Web in recent years — but how much do we really know about this mysterious part of the internet? In this overview of recent Dark Web statistics, we’ll start by examining the darknet in the context of the World Wide Web. The Moneyzine.com stats team will then look at the usage data for Tor, the go-to browser for accessing the Dark Web. Finally, we’ll focus on the notorious Dark Web marketplaces, explore their history, and review the latest prices of various illicit items.
In terms of drug sales, Hydra Market became the largest narcotic market among the former countries of the USSR. Hydra Market met a similar demise to the Silk Road when it was shut down by German police in April 2022. Still, the disruption of Hydra dealt a “huge blow“ to the ecosystem, according to multiple sources on the Dark Web. It remains unclear whether this was an exit scam or the result of law enforcement activity.
The results of that investigation were published in a report called Technical analysis of the Genesis Market. Though Genesis Market domains and servers were seized and antivirus programs have been updated, cybercriminals have already rebuilt illicit services like these. Despite most darknet markets banning the sale of fentanyl in their terms of service, nearly all mainstream Western-facing markets have vendors that sell fentanyl-laced products. While it received a relatively small share of large retail purchases as shown in the previous chart, Abacus Market is one such example. Though many customers are concentrated in Australia, Abacus has vendors and customers around the world, including the United States. Find unique offerings and connect with trusted vendors, all with the assurance of privacy and security.
