<div id="post_message_803454">

Abacus Market, the largest Western darknet marketplace supporting Bitcoin payments, has shut down its public infrastructure in a move suspected to be an exit scam.<br/>
<br/>
Exit scams occur when the operator of a marketplace decides to vanish with the money they hold in escrow for various transactions between platform users.<br/>
<br/>
Blockchain intelligence firm <a href="https://www.trmlabs.com/resources/blog/abacus-market-conducts-likely-exit-scam-amid-increasingly-unstable-western-darknet-marketplace-landscape" target="_blank">TRM Labs reports</a> that Abacus shutting down so abruptly has all the indications of either an exit scam or a covert law enforcement operation dismantling the activity.<br/>
<br/>
Historically, there have been “silent” takedowns that weren’t accompanied by announcements from the authorities, to allow investigations to continue unobstructed and gather more incriminating evidence or identify accomplices.<br/>
<br/>
<img alt="" border="0" class="bbCodeImage" src="https://www.bleepstatic.com/images/news/u/1220909/2025/July/abacus.jpg"/><br/>
<div style="margin:20px; margin-top:5px; ">
<!-- <div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom:2px">Quote:</div> -->
<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td class="alt2" style="background: rgb(37, 37, 37) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-radius: 5px; font-size: 11px; text-shadow: none;">

The Abacus Market frontpage advertising illicit substances. Source: TRM Labs

</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div><b><font size="4"><font color="White">Leading force</font></font></b><br/>
<br/>
Abacus launched in September 2021 as ‘Alphabet Market,’ and gradually increased its popularity, especially as the number of other markets on the dark web dwindled, mostly as a result of law enforcement actions.<br/>
<br/>
In 2022, Abacus was used by 10% of the users on Western darknet markets. It grew to 17% in 2023 and reached a leading status of 70% last year.<br/>
<br/>
<img alt="" border="0" class="bbCodeImage" src="https://www.bleepstatic.com/images/news/u/1220909/2025/July/marketshare.jpeg"/><br/>
<div style="margin:20px; margin-top:5px; ">
<!-- <div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom:2px">Quote:</div> -->
<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td class="alt2" style="background: rgb(37, 37, 37) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-radius: 5px; font-size: 11px; text-shadow: none;">

Abacus dominating the market share in 2024. Source: TRM Labs

</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>TRM Labs reports that the market had enabled transactions of nearly $100 million worth of Bitcoin but the figure does not include Monero (XMR) cryptocurrency, which requires special conditions to track and accounts for at least two-thirds of all transactions on Abacus.<br/>
<br/>
Considering Monero transactions, the researchers estimate that total sales on Abacus were likely closer to at least $300 million. The best month for the darkweb market was this June, when the value of brokered sales peaked at $6.3 million.<br/>
<br/>
In what concerns user deposits, TRM Labs reports that the platform received last month an average of $230,000 per day, across 1,400 transactions.<br/>
<br/>
This figure dropped quickly in early July, to just $13,000 a day across 100 deposits, as user trust was quickly affected by withdrawal delays.<br/>
<br/>
<b><font size="4"><font color="white">Exit scam unfolding</font></font></b><br/>
<br/>
When user complaints surfaced, Abacus’ administrator, “Vito,” said on the darknet forum Dread that the reasons behind withdrawal problems were a sudden influx of new users following the <a href="https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/police-seizes-archetyp-market-drug-marketplace-arrests-admin/" target="_blank">recent shut-down of Archetyp Market</a>, combined with a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack.<br/>
<br/>
<img alt="" border="0" class="bbCodeImage" src="https://www.bleepstatic.com/images/news/u/1220909/2025/July/vito.jpeg"/><br/>
<div style="margin:20px; margin-top:5px; ">
<!-- <div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom:2px">Quote:</div> -->
<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td class="alt2" style="background: rgb(37, 37, 37) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-radius: 5px; font-size: 11px; text-shadow: none;">

Admin's explanation on Dread. Source: TRM Labs

</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>Despite Vito's assurances, daily transaction activity on the site dropped.<br/>
<br/>
In the days that followed, Abacus Market’s entire online infrastructure, including its clearnet mirror, went offline without a seizure banner or any indication that law enforcement was involved.<br/>
<br/>
Community consensus and users close to the Abacus team ruled out an FBI operation as a likely reason, leaning more towards an exit scam explanation for the sudden takedown of the platform.<br/>
<br/>
At publishing time there is no indication that Abacus has been taken down by law enforcement but this scenario is not to be ruled out yet.<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/abacus-dark-web-drug-market-goes-offline-in-suspected-exit-scam/" target="_blank">@ BleepingComputer </a>
</div>