DarkNet Drug Market Taken Down and Parties Traced: How It Happened

TL;DR - An international law enforcement operation took down ArcheType, one of the oldest/biggest markets today. It processed $300M in transactions. This investigation built upon previous takedowns of major markets in 2025 and prior. Only 6 out of 3,200 vendors were arrested.

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A major international operation has taken down Archetyp, one of the longest-running Dark Web marketplaces. This market was known as a ‘Monero-only’ market, and facilitated €250 million (almost $300m) in Monero cryptocurrency transactions.

It hosted 3,200 vendors and 17,000 listings for drugs and other illegal goods. Six vendors and one administrator were arrested in Germany and Sweden, and authorities seized €7.8 million in assets, alongside computers, smartphones, and narcotics.

Some might question, how could a Monero only market be traced? Its likely not the weakest link the chain.

Since the investigators got control over the market server, they had an inside look at all of the activity on the platform. This potentially revelaed unencrypted user information, and financial flows, package shipments, and vulnerabilities and operational security.

Crucially, the repeated use of "Tor" in takedown operation names (like DisrupTor and DarkHunTOR) hints at a focus on the Tor network itself. Tor, created by the US Navy and partially funded by US government agencies, isn’t impenetrable. Studies have shown bad actors can potentially de-anonymize connections by controlling enough Tor exit nodes.

Also notable is that only six vendors were arrested out of a pool of 3,200 - suggesting authorities are keeping focus on key players, or gathering intelligence for future ops.

Despite advancements in privacy technology like Monero, which has proven strong even under attack by Chainanalysis - criminals are not outside of law enforcement’s reach.

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