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. 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 recent shut-down of Archetyp Market, combined with a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. 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. 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. Blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs reports that Abacus shutting down so abruptly has all the indications of either an exit scam or a covert law enforcement operation dismantling the activity. 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. 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. 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. Considering Monero transactions, the researchers estimate that total sales on Abacus were likely closer to at least $300 million. 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. Bill Toulas Bill Toulas is a tech writer and infosec news reporter with over a decade of experience working on various online publications, covering open-source, Linux, malware, data breach incidents, and hacks.
This Cyber News was published on www.bleepingcomputer.com. Publication date: Tue, 15 Jul 2025 20:00:17 +0000