Abacus Market, which had risen to become the preeminent Western darknet marketplace for illicit drug transactions and other contraband, has reportedly gone offline, prompting widespread suspicion of an “exit scam.” This prevalent dark web phenomenon involves marketplace operators suddenly ceasing operations and absconding with significant sums of cryptocurrency held in escrow for user transactions. The unexpected nature of Abacus’s disappearance, coupled with prior reports of withdrawal difficulties, strongly points towards this fraudulent scheme, leaving countless users and vendors with potentially lost funds.
Blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs, which has been monitoring the darknet ecosystem, highlights that the sudden cessation of Abacus’s public infrastructure bears all the hallmarks of an exit scam. While law enforcement operations can sometimes result in “silent” takedowns, the lack of any official seizure banner or announcement from authorities makes an exit scam the more probable explanation. Historically, such operations aim to gather further intelligence or identify more accomplices, but the complete vanishing act by Abacus’s administrators aligns more with a deliberate disappearance for financial gain.
Abacus had steadily climbed the ranks of darknet markets since its launch in September 2021 as ‘Alphabet Market.’
Its growth was particularly pronounced as rival platforms fell victim to law enforcement actions, allowing Abacus to consolidate its market share. By last year, it commanded a dominant 70% of the Western darknet market landscape. This rise to prominence made it a significant player in the illicit online economy, attracting a large user base that entrusted it with substantial cryptocurrency deposits.
The scale of financial activity on Abacus was considerable. TRM Labs estimates that the market facilitated nearly $100 million in Bitcoin transactions alone. However, this figure likely underestimates the true volume, as the marketplace also heavily supported Monero (XMR), a privacy-focused cryptocurrency that accounts for at least two-thirds of all transactions on Abacus due to its enhanced anonymity features. Factoring in Monero, researchers suggest that total sales could have been closer to at least $300 million. The market even experienced its best month in June, with brokered sales peaking at $6.3 million, indicating robust activity just before its demise.
The unfolding of the suspected exit scam began with user complaints about delayed withdrawals. Abacus’s administrator, known as “Vito,” attempted to assuage fears on the darknet forum Dread, attributing the issues to a surge in new users following the shutdown of Archetyp Market and a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. However, these explanations failed to restore user confidence, leading to a sharp decline in daily deposits. In the days that followed, Abacus Market’s entire online presence, including its mirror sites, went offline without a trace, cementing the community’s belief that their funds have been stolen in a sophisticated and lucrative exit scam.
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