Our expert industry analysis and practical solutions help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology. We hope it can speed up the way vendors can process new orders to ship them out faster. These updates are already live for weeks / months but are not that often used as we never forced people to read the announcements, which we now do. Therefore I now give a short list of functions we added within the last months, so vendors might start to use them. We added almost every requested function from /b/archetyp/requests and more, we now have signatures, profile images, a search engine, post count, comment count and a lot more.
Europol Leads International Takedown Of Longest Running Darknet Market Archetyp
This function can be setup on the /settings page, you enter your own wallet and a threshold, whenever the threshold is reached, all your XMR on the market will be sent out to the wallet. Archetyp accepts only Monero (XMR) for transactions, for safety reasons. With increasing computation power, it will get easier to trace Monero transactions. If I send a transaction today, there is no guarantee that this transaction will be untraceable in 5 years.
Europol Dismantles ‘Archetyp’ Dark Web Drug Market
- It appears law enforcement then sent a message through the Archetyp administrator’s messaging channel, confirming the takedown.
- While few details have emerged about the other arrests, dark web users quickly began to analyze the now-removed official video of the operation released by the BKA.
- Archetyp Market functioned as a Tor-based hidden service, accessible only through specialized darknet browsers that utilize onion routing protocols to anonymize user traffic and location data.
- They were not able to release personal information at this stage.
- Cybercriminals use these platforms to sell access to botnets, phishing kits or tools to compromise devices.
- We have a lot planned with Archetyp, and we continue to always improve.
Police in Germany add that as many as 3,200 vendors are registered on Archetyp. “The comprehensive data seized is now being analyzed and provides further investigative leads,” the agency said, suggesting law enforcement will try to identify users and vendors of the dark web marketplace. The operation followed years of investigation into the platform’s network and operations. Authorities tracked financial transactions, analyzed forensic evidence and worked closely with international counterparts to uncover the individuals behind the marketplace. Over its five years of activity, the marketplace amassed over 612,000 users with a total transaction volume of over €250 million (approximately $289 million) in Monero cryptocurrency transactions. Archetyp had more than 17,000 listings at the time of its takedown from around 3,200 registered vendors, and was one of the few marketplaces of its kind that allowed the sale of fentanyl.
Archetyp Market Overview
The continent-wide effort — dubbed Operation Deep Sentinel — follows a wave of cybercrime crackdowns across the globe, marking one of the most high-volume periods of law enforcement action against cybercrime in rapid succession. But those of us who have studied this space for years weren’t surprised. But shutdowns like this have become a recurring feature of the dark web. Archetyp has a clean interface allowing you to do a quick search by clicking on a category. As you can see from the category list, there are currently 11,499 different listings. Archetyp is one of only 5 markets on Dread’s Darknet Markets Superlist.
Please include the full .onion URL and any relevant information about the service. We review all submissions for accuracy and legitimacy before adding them to our directory. Our automated system checks link status every 6 hours, and our team manually verifies links at least once per week. A General service with secure access through the Tor network. A Marketplace service with secure access through the Tor network.
Elysium Market
Over five years, it became a bustling hub where over 3,200 vendors sold more than 17,000 drug listings, spanning cocaine, heroin, cannabis, MDMA, amphetamines, and highly dangerous synthetic opioids like fentanyl. With a staggering 612,000 users, the platform processed over €250 million (approximately \$289 million) in transactions, primarily in the privacy-focused Monero cryptocurrency. The digital underworld has witnessed a major blow with the recent dismantling of Archetyp Market, one of the longest-operating darknet drug markets. Since its launch in May 2020, Archetyp grew into a sprawling platform facilitating massive illegal drug sales across multiple countries.
Rules And How To Become A Vendor
Whether you’re a newcomer dipping your toes into the dark web or a veteran of hidden services, our platform’s built to be your go-to spot. With over 15,000 listings, we’ve got a catalog that spans continents—vendors from the US, Europe, Asia, and beyond bring their wares to a community that’s all about staying under the radar. Launched in 2020, Archetyp wasn’t just another black market, it was the market.
Use Tor Browser Correctly
They accept users and vendors based in the European countries. One Archetyp Market moderator and six of the marketplace’s highest vendors were also arrested in Germany and Sweden. Payments on the platform were made exclusively with Monero, a privacy-enhanced cryptocurrency the architecture of which makes tracing blockchain transactions much more of a pain for authorities. When Archetyp went fully offline in June 2025, it triggered the same recovery reflexes seen after past collapses.
The focus of the investigators was on a 30-year-old German who is suspected of having acted as the administrator of Archetyp Market. He was arrested in his apartment in Barcelona by the Spanish National Police. In parallel, German and European authorities searched 20 other properties – including residential houses, server rooms, and hideouts of accomplices. Europol said the action was the result of “years of intensive investigative work”, during which detectives mapped out the platform’s technical architecture and identified the individuals behind it. They were following the money trail, and analyzed digital forensic evidence, allowing them to determine key players and important locations.
Eurojust Publications
Persistent trade and resilient user communities limit the long-term impact of these interventions. Focusing solely on dark web markets may overlook broader digital harms occurring on mainstream platforms. Our marketplace is a dark pool of over 8,000 digital items—think hacked databases, VPN creds, or pirated games—plus 5,500 physical goods like rare coins or custom gadgets. It’s a global operation, with vendors and buyers linking up across time zones, all shielded by Tor’s layered anonymity. Last year, we saw $50 million in total trades, a number that’s climbing as word spreads.
Archetyp Market is known for its strong security measures, such as mandatory Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) and end-to-end encryption to protect user data and communications. The platform supports multiple cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Monero, and Litecoin, which allows for secure and anonymous transactions between buyers and sellers. To access Archetyp Market, users must utilize the Tor network, which provides a high level of anonymity and privacy.
Confusion swirled on dark web forums when the site went offline under the guise of “maintenance” a classic precursor to an exit scam. The estimated value of the seized assets is 7.8 million euros. Payments were not made in euros or dollars, but with the anonymous cryptocurrency Monero, which is particularly difficult to trace. The infrastructure was found in the Netherlands, and was subsequently dismantled. PCMag.com is a leading authority on technology, delivering lab-based, independent reviews of the latest products and services.
The final phase of the market takedown followed several years of investigations to map out the market’s darknet infrastructure and money flows. A seizure banner (pictured) has been published to the market’s darknet address. Archetyp had been in operation for more than five years and had more than 600,000 users worldwide, including in Australia.
