In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the darknet markets that are still working in 2023. Through our team of experts in various darknet markets, we can help you choose the best marketplace by simply showing you what to look for when selecting a darknet market. While not based in Australia, Abacus Market gained strong traction with local darknet users by embracing cultural references, supporting Australian vendors, and featuring a dedicated moderator from the region. These efforts helped it become one of the most active platforms among Australian users. Since its inception, Abacus Market has gradually increased its market share in the Western DNM ecosystem.
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Others are looking for stolen data, hacking services, or even banned books and political content. These sites cater to cybercriminals seeking valuable data, such as credit card numbers, login credentials, and personal information. Freshtools was established in 2019 and offers various stolen credentials, accounts, and host protocols like RDP. It is considered a go-to site for malware purchasing, providing keyloggers, trojans, and other Malware as a Service products.
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When factoring in Monero, the untraceable cryptocurrency used for most of the platform’s trades, total sales are believed to have exceeded $300 million. Dark0de Market is a large and well-established darknet market that offers a wide variety of listings for drugs, digital goods, and services. Dark0de Market also has a strong focus on security and privacy, with a variety of features to protect the anonymity of its users.
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TRM’s research further documents how darknet operators attempt to stay ahead of law enforcement through pseudonymous domain registration, rapid rebranding after takedowns, and the laundering of proceeds through high-risk exchanges. That case, like Archetyp, demonstrates how darknet infrastructure is often transnational, technically sophisticated, and deeply intertwined with the global financial system. The Archetyp Market takedown comes at a time of continued growth and transformation in the digital drug trade. According to TRM Labs, cryptocurrency-enabled online drug sales grew by more than 19% from 2023 to 2024, reaching nearly USD 2.4 billion in total volume. At the same time, 2024 saw a 42% decline in the number of new darknet marketplaces launched year over year — a signal that while the market is consolidating, it is also becoming more sophisticated. Written by Flashpoint’s Intelligence Team, this report is also supported by research from blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs.
Dark Web Intelligence Market Revenue
Drugs lead the pack—weed, pills, some synthetics—but digital goods like hacked logins are gaining, tying into Telegram’s side gig boom. For 2025, they’re teasing AI-powered search—could make digging through listings a breeze, which I’m hyped for since their catalog’s already hefty. The site’s unique—loads fast, looks sharp, and vendors get treated right, keeping turnover low. I’ve used it; shipping’s discreet—plain packages or DeadDrops—and uptime’s been flawless, rivaling Abacus. It’s not as community-driven as Bohemia, but the polish makes up for it—feels like a pro operation, not a fly-by-night deal.
It offers impressive features, including PGP-signed addresses, payment via Monera, sticky and featured listings, and auto shops. In 2017, the website went offline following a law enforcement action taken by the American, Canadian, and Thai authorities, but since August 2021, it’s been operational again. Since you’re accessing the Dark Web markets, you must be aware of the dangers you could face. Due to the nature of the money crossing hands, users of Darknet markets should be extra wary while using the services available.
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As part of the investigation, the Dutch National Police took the lead on cybercrime prevention, and Van Well shared his insight on the sophistication of the fraud shop’s operation. Tor Links is a backup directory of “.onion” sites in case other directories go offline. The best Tor sites are under constant threat of closure, including Tor directories like the Hidden Wiki, so having a backup in case one goes down is handy. The Hidden Wiki is the dark web’s unofficial Wikipedia, where you can find “.onion” links for many black web pages, services, and other content. The Hidden Wiki doesn’t discriminate, so if you start diving into dark net links randomly, you may come across objectionable or dangerous material. They worked closely with a “security administrator” and second in command known as DeSnake, or simply “DS” for short.
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In this post, we’ll walk you through the top 10 dark web marketplaces that you need to watch for potential threats to your organization. As encryption, anonymity and privacy are central to the design of the darknet and its various drug markets, up-to-date information on drug trends is difficult to come by. A thriving category of illicit goods and services sold on dark web markets is that of scans of personal documents.
Attacks with a smaller number of requests typically sell for less, and the target networks’ protection level also impacts the price. DDoS attacks remain a huge problem for companies and institutions around the world, especially as their frequency went up by 314% between H1 of 2022 and H2 of 2023. This was the price of a hacked account on the peer-to-peer exchange LocalBitcoins, which has since shut down. Unsurprisingly, facts about the Dark Web show that accounts on the more popular exchanges had higher asking prices. They ranged from $85 for a Blockchain.com account to $300 for a Crypto.com account to $1,170 for a Kraken account.
- This marketplace accepts payments via Monero but also supports the Escrow system.
- The forum is used for all cybercriminal types, but a particularly large population of initial access brokers have been observed, especially in the “Auctions” section of the forum.
- Today, no single player is dominant like these marketplaces were before their takedown, with administrators preferring to specialize in particular types of goods and services.
- Dark web search engines support dark web marketplaces and allow users to use them, but still accessing them is full of risks; they can infect your device with malware or viruses, and can bring other legal consequences.
- On one hand, it offers privacy for whistleblowers, journalists, and citizens in oppressive countries.
- This extra privacy makes it much harder for authorities to track down who runs these markets and where they are located.
- Almost a year after Hydra’s takedown, five markets—Mega, Blacksprut, Solaris, Kraken and OMG!
- But when a vendor is arrested, their activity is disrupted across every DNM they operate on.
- Another notable departure from the scene was the ASAP market, which has been active since at least 2020.
- These markets have become increasingly popular in recent years, as they offer a level of anonymity and security that is not available on traditional e-commerce platforms.
- On these marketplaces, they’re listed, sold, and promoted just like items on any e-commerce site.
In late June 2025, users began reporting withdrawal issues with Abacus Market, which typically indicates an impending exit scam. The marketplace’s administrator, known as ‘Vito’, responded on darkweb discussion forum Dread, claiming an influx of Archetyp users and a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack were the reasons for the issues. Alright, let’s get into the meat of it—the darknet markets that are ruling 2025. I’ve been poking around these places for a while now, from the giants like Abacus to the old-timers like Vice City. This isn’t just a quick list; it’s the full scoop on what they offer, how they keep things tight, and why they’re worth your time—or not. Whether you’re new to the dark web or a vet who’s seen it all, you’ll find something here to chew on.
What’s Behind This Likely Exit Scam?
Due to the concerted law enforcement action (and successive sanctions) against Hydra, cryptocurrency cash-out services are often wary of running under the same name as they did on the now-defunct market. Thus Flashpoint analysts have observed several cash-out services and their users stating that the service in question had been present on Hydra, typically in a positive context. However, the possibility of a silent law enforcement operation hasn’t been entirely ruled out.
This handy feature monitors the dark web for signs that your login details or other personal info have been leaked. What’s more concerning is that most of the time, we don’t know about these flaws, and by the time we try to fix them, we come to know it’s too late. Later, in 2013, Silk Road caught the attention of law enforcement and policymakers like US Senator Charles Schumer, who publicly called for a federal crackdown. That push led to the arrest of Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, after a long and intense investigation. The dark web is designed in such a manner that it hides the identities and locations of its visitors.
Some of the biggest markets have disappeared within just a few weeks in the latter half of 2022. The takedown of Hydra market undoubtedly caused a major rupture in the Russian darknet market ecosystem. In its wake, the US has also sanctioned several mixers and risky exchanges that handled stolen funds and which had exposure to Hydra wallets. BreachForums, an underground forum that has seen multiple iterations and changes in ownership, continues to be one of the most well-regarded English language forums serving cybercriminals across the world – in spite of a rocky year. The forum is frequented by initial access brokers, database vendors, malware developers, spammers, programmers looking to learn new techniques, and everything in between.
In Arizona, lawmakers passed a Bitcoin reserve law, enabling seized crypto to be held as public reserves. A related proposal allows converting crypto from criminal cases into state funds. Darknet marketplaces are facing increased scrutiny from coordinated global enforcement. Abacus had recently grown in dominance after Europol’s June takedown of Archetyp Market, handling $6.3 million in monthly sales and controlling over 70% of Bitcoin-enabled Western darknet trade. Farwa is an experienced InfoSec writer and cybersecurity journalist skilled in writing articles related to cybersecurity, AI, DevOps, Big Data, Cloud security, VPNs, IAM, and Cloud Computing. Also a contributor on Tripwire.com, Infosecurity Magazine, Security Boulevard, DevOps.com, and CPO Magazine.
One thing that distinguishes BidenCash on the dark web, however, is how it markets itself. In fact, everything is in English, and the site picks up users everywhere in the world. People visit this market to buy stolen credit cards, personal data, remote desktop account credentials, and logs gathered from information-stealing malware. The story of Hydra is yet another in a series of creepy facts about the Dark Web. Back in 2020, this Russian-speaking marketplace was the world’s biggest darknet market.
