The Abacus market powered by bitcoins suspected the output fraud

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Abacus Market, the largest Western Darknet market with bitcoins, has gone offline in apparent output fraud.

His website and infrastructure, including the Clearnet mirror, are inaccessible, TRM Labs he said In the report from Monday. The disappearance prompted the TRM to convince that “operators probably conducted output fraud, closing operations and disappearing with users’ funds.”

TRM Labs said that closing may be the result of the attention of law enforcement agencies, because the Abacus market has a monthly record after closing the archetypal market, one of the longest murky internet markets, in mid -June.

At the end of June, users began reporting problems related to withdrawal, which prompted the administrator of Abacus known from the “Vito” handle to ensure that the problems were only the result of the influx of up-to-date people and the distributed attack of the refusal of services.

“This behavior was in line with known designs of starting fraud visible in other Darknet markets.”

Administrator Abacus Vito tried to provide users that the problems with withdrawal were short-lived. Source: TRM Labs

Users began to run away in crowds despite certainty, and daily deposits have dropped in recent weeks, compared to the average daily deposit by 230,000 USD for most June to just USD 13,000 per day from 28 June to 10 July.

Abacus offered a wide range of illegal drugs, including stimulants, psychhediles, unlicensed pharmaceuticals, and served the central deposit portfolio that supported both bitcoins (BTC) and Monero (XMR).

Success could cause closure

Abacus was one of the best Darknet markets dealing with bitcoins.

Europol closed one of the longest -lasting murky internet markets, the archetype market, June 16, causing users to flood abacus, which leads to the largest monthly sales in history of $ 6.3 million in June.

A similar situation took place after the voluntary closing of the ASAP market in July 2023, with a 20% raise in Abacus’s volume compared to a month earlier.

The share of the Bitcoin Western Gloomy Market ecosystem also increased to over 70%, after closing ASAP and seizure of the Incognito market law enforcement authorities in March 2024.

TRM Labs said that users usually migrate to the nearest available platform, when the murky market is to break down, especially when it is a “large and reputable market”.

Abacus Market in the ecosystem increased after its competitors were closed. Source: TRM Labs

“The market that reach the peak of the ecosystem, in terms of volume, user base, lists and reputation, often become a priority goals for law enforcement agencies,” said TRM Labs.

During four years of activity, Abacus generated almost $ 100 million dollars of Bitcoin (BTC), but TRM Labs said that because Monero’s privacy was a vast amount of sales, its actual sum can be between USD 300 and 400 million.

Profit and lack of consistency for peers

TRM Labs speculates that Abacus operators could also “lose motivation to continue” or decide to leave the ecosystem to “keep their freedom and financial benefits.”

“In the face of a decision between the search for profits and self -presence, Abacus’ administrators probably chose the latter in the light of the archetype occupation and the increase in new users who raised the Abacus profile.”

According to TRM Labs, the previous administrators of other murky market operators who have voluntarily left, such as those on the ASAP market and Agora Market Square, or conducted output fraud, such as the evolution market, managed to escape without caught law enforcement.

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The Darknet market can already be confiscated

TRM Labs said that there is also a chance that law enforcement authorities have secretly taken over the market and are noiseless about surgery during the compilation of evidence and tracking people who were tracking.

However, the company also said that the Gloomy Web Discour Forum Dreada administrator, which was in close contact with the ABACUS team, undermined that law enforcement authorities were behind the disappearance of the market.

“In some cases, such as the NEMSIS market exit, official seizures appeared several months after DNM [darknet market] He has gone offline – added TRM Labs.

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