Timeline

The Darknet Timeline! <3 Every major event in darknet history — launches, law enforcement seizures, exit scams, arrests and infrastructure takedowns — from the launch of Silk Road in 2011 up to today. Entries marked with a page link take you to our full write-up on that market, forum, service or person, where you'll find onion addresses, PGP keys and the complete story.

Quick facts: The timeline covers 15 years of darknet history. The bloodiest single day was 5 April 2022, when Hydra Market was seized. The longest-running market was Archetyp (2020-2025). The most profitable exit scam remains Empire Market (August 2020).

Jump to a year: 2025 · 2024 · 2023 · 2022 · 2021 · 2020 · 2019 · 2018 · 2017 · 2016 · 2015 · 2014 · 2013 · 2012 · 2011 · 2010

Massive thank you to /u/TTTz for providing the majority of the information shown over here (/post/ed8318721fda07858577/#c-6100d2bb6b094e7c7e on Dread). As without them it would've taken me so much more longer to complete this.

Another massive thank you to /u/samwhiskey for providing information about what has been happening on the DarkNet since September 2023 through their "weekly whiskey" (renamed from Darknet News after their 100th post). They have been a significant contributor to the DarkNet, and their efforts have especially made my tasks easier.

2025

20th November: Reddit bans and erases Dread administrator HugBunter's account — see HugBunter
14th July: Abacus Market vanishes in a suspected exit scam
6th July: Dread suffers an extended outage amid DDoS attacks; HugBunter publishes PGP-signed status updates
16th June: Archetyp Market seized in Operation Deep Sentinel — administrator arrested in Barcelona, €7.8M in assets seized. Full story: Timeline: Archetyp
5th June: BidenCash carding market seized, approximately 145 domains taken down
22nd May: Operation RapTor announced — 270 arrests and €184M+ in cash and cryptocurrency seized
7th March: Garantex crypto exchange seized, Tether freezes $28M in USDT

2024

16th December: Incognito Market owner pleads guilty — full story: Timeline: Incognito
10th October: Dutch police announce the dismantling of Bohemia/Cannabia — €8M in crypto seized, two administrators arrested. Full story: Timeline: Bohemia
6th May: Incognito Market owner "Pharaoh" (Rui-Siang Lin) arrested at JFK Airport
21st March: Nemesis Market seized by German BKA/Frankfurt ZIT with US and Lithuanian partners
March: Incognito Market shuts down amid a law enforcement seizure

2023

20th December: Kingdom Market has been seized
18th December: Speculation in regards to Kingdom market being likely seized
24th November: Monumental update to Tor Browser in regards to PoW access — see PoW defense for Onion Services
22nd November: Hugbunter sets out warning in regards to the wallet withdrawal issue
22nd November: Bohemia Market reopens - supposedly
4th November: m00nkey is experiencing uncertainty due to disappearance
29th October: Bohemia white-screen, said to be due to overwhelming DDOS
13th October: DNMX was raided
13th October: Bohemia releases emergency link
12th October: Test4Pay proposition & removal of Steveirwin from /d/Test4Pay moderation due to arrest
12th October: Cypher Market goes on maintenance
2nd October: Bohemia receives a mega-thread, withdrawal problems remain questionable
2nd October: Bohemia experiences wallet withdrawal bug
1st October: Raspberry Pi 5 is going to be released
24th September: Dark Matter moves from probationary list to the superlist
19th September: Tor2Door sub-dread has been locked out until further notice
15th September: Tor2Door experiences unusual downtime
14th September: Tor2Door goes down and is confirmed as an exit scam
7th September: Searching on Dread now works
1st September: BigBossChefOfArchetyp publishes an open letter to governments and law enforcement
28th August: Dark Matter Market releases private shops
25th August: A bug on dnm.watch (Tor2Door rotatory mirror) said "Warning!!! You are in a phishing website." for a link
22nd August: Searching on Dread has been going under work
21st June: BreachForums clearnet domain seized by the FBI
2nd May: Operation SpecTor announced — 288 arrests, the largest JCODE operation at the time, completing the Monopoly Market takedown
5th April: Genesis Market seized in Operation Cookie Monster — 17 countries, 119 arrests
15th March: BreachForums founder "pompompurin" (Conor Brian FitzPatrick) arrested
5th March: Dread Relaunches
14th February: AlphaBay (v2) exit scams
20th January: Kilos Exchange exit scams
3rd January: Deutschland.im Deep Web seized

2022

23rd June: Monopoly Market was seized — full story: Timeline: Monopoly
9th June: Tor Network experiences a network-wide DDoS
June: SSNDOB was seized — full story: Timeline: SSNDOB
26th May: VenTor launched
22nd May: Versus Market retires
12th April: Dread launches I2P mirror
6th April: xChange.me shuts down
5th April: Hydra Market gets seized — the largest darknet market seizure in history
25th March: World Market exit scams
8th March: Archetyp leaves Dread
7th March: Dread v3 released
25th February: Dark0de Reborn exit scams
16th February: Dread's 4 year anniversary
28th January: DeepDotWeb admin sentenced to 97 months in prison

2021

30th December: Monopoly Market disappears
23rd December: Cartel Market disappears
16th December: ToRReZ Market retires
8th December: Someone is running hundreds of malicious Tor relays
27th November: Shredd launched
23rd November: Cannazon Market retires
26th October: Operation Dark HunTOR announced — 150 arrests across 8 countries
19th October: Dread's search goes offline
16th October: Envoy relaunched
6th October: PGP.fail launched
1st October: White House Market retires
27th September: Abacus Market launched
23rd September: Televend is potentially compromised
9th August: NamasteLSD's private shop has been seized
7th August: AlphaBay relaunched
29th July: Secmail goes offline permanently
22nd June: White House and Dark0de launch harm reduction programs — see Harm Reduction resources
11th June: Slilpp has been seized
23rd May: Bohemia Market launched
5th May: DarkDotFail regained control of his domain — see dark.fail
2nd May: Tor is killing off support for v2 onion services
29th April: DarkDotFail's domain got hijacked
28th April: Aurora Market exit scams
18th April: The unofficial scam market, Dread Market, is launched
9th April: Big Blue Market shuts down and gives user data to law enforcement
31st March: Incognito Market launched
13th February: Darknet Avengers gets seized
3rd February: XMR.to, a popular Monero exchange, is shutting down
19th January: Joker's Stash, the largest carding shop, is shutting down
14th January: Yellow Brick Market is gone
13th January: DarkMarket has been seized
12th January: Tor "experimental fix" might make Tor usable again
9th January: Tor v3 consensus attack

2020

29th December: White House Market ends support for Bitcoin
27th December: Neptune Market disappears
11th December: Finnish authorities seized Sipulimarket
29th November: Tor2Door Market launched
9th November: World Market launched
5th November: Someone moved $1b in Bitcoins from the Silk Road
2nd November: Aurora Market launched
14th October: Cartel Market launched
9th September: The creator of Imperiya launched Invictus Market
1st September: CipherTrace provided feds with "Monero tracing" tools
25th August: Empire Market exit scams
7th August: Torum shuts down
7th August: Feds did not accuse dark.fail of a crime
14th July: Neptune Market launched
10th July: Versus Market gets hacked
9th July: Czech police seize Atlayo
20th June: DarkMarket launched
14th June: BitBazaar exit scams
4th June: Icarus Market launched
4th June: Envoy is back online with design overhaul
26th May: End Game's source code is released
25th May: Vice City Market launched
20th May: Europa Market exit scams with fake seizure banner
17th May: Archetyp Market launched
16th May: DeepSea Market launched
15th May: Dark0de Market launched
14th May: Europol dismantles InfinityBlack hacking group
7th May: Avior Market exit scams
28th April: Pax Romana exit scams
19th April: Tor Project cuts a third of its staff
13th April: Empire Market becomes the first market to use End Game
25th March: ASAP Market launched
21st March: Versus pauses operations to audit security
14th March: Pax Romana launched
13th March: Child abuse site "DarkScandals" seized by Europol
10th March: Daniel's Hosting is shutting down
2nd March: Recon launched
28th February: ToRReZ Market launched
26th February: Reddit bans /r/DrugStashes
25th February: Europa Market launched
21st February: DNStats.net starts serving phishing links
20th February: BitBazaar launched
19th February: Apollon Market started exit scamming
18th February: PrivCoin shuts down, blames "new and extensive regulations"
16th February: Dread's 2 year anniversary
12th February: Grams admin indicted for money laundering
4th February: Darkweb vendors are blackmailing customers
4th February: Kilos launches a Bitcoin mixer
21st January: dark.fail releases tool for checking signed messages
10th January: Dread is migrating to a new host

2019

31st December: Grey Market exit scams
12th December: Versus Market launched
11th December: Envoy admin launches Imperiya, a market for vendor shops
10th December: China's biggest darkweb market, DeepMix, shuts down
5th December: The DNSTARS harm reduction forum is shutting down
19th November: Monero project served infected binaries for 35 minutes
17th November: Dread to return with fixes and some data loss
15th November: Kilos launched
14th November: Cryptonia Market is shutting down
14th November: The admin of SamSara Market is gone
10th November: The Darknet Collective is formed, markets join forces to prevent scams
7th November: Italian authorities seized Berlusconi Market
39th October: Dark.Fail introduces new guidelines for market admins
21st October: Grey Market launched
19th October: Fake Tor Browser steals Bitcoin from Russian darkweb users
17th October: Avaris Market launched
12th October: Avior Market launched
4th October: Berlusconi's market admins have disappeared
2nd October: Tochka Market exit scams
27th September: HugBunter's deadman has been switched
15th September: CannaHome Market launched
6th September: Belarusian authorities seized XakFor hacking forum
3rd September: DarkBay launched
25th August: Big Blue Market launched
22nd August: White House Market launched
20th August: DEA awards 130K contract to Chainalysis to track cryptocurrency
19th August: Admin of Deutschland im Deep Web sentenced to six years in prison
24th July: Nightmare Market exit scams
13th July: Monopoly Market launched
4th July: SamSara Market launched
19th June: Libertas Market shuts down due to 'lack of use' on I2P
13th June: Authorities arrest three suspected admins of France's biggest darkweb market
9th June: U.S. police launch their own Tor site for darkweb vendor busts
3rd June: LocalBitcoins disables cash for Bitcoin transactions
3rd June: Yellow Brick Market has returned
28th May: Bitcoin Blender announces shutdown
25th May: Raddle, like Reddit, killed the darknetmarkets subforum
23rd May: Libertas Market is available via I2P
23rd May: Dutch police seize Bitcoin tumbler "Bestmixer.io"
14th May: CGMC silently shut down — see CGMC
10th May: Reddit is blocking 15% of Tor exit relays
9th May: Darkwebnews.com shuts down
7th May: International law enforcement seizes DeepDotWeb and arrests admin
3rd May: Europol announces the takedown of Valhalla Market
2nd May: German law enforcement seize Wallstreet Market
30th April: Dream Market is shutting down
21st April: Wallstreet Market exit scams
6th April: Gangsta's Paradise forum shut down by Dread
April: Yellow Brick Market launched
April: Cryptonia Market launched

2018

2nd December: Phishkingz, darknet market phisher, announces retirement
7th November: Law enforcement decrypt IronChat
28th October: The Grams replacement, Masterlist, launched
23rd October: Nightmare Market launched
4th September: Olympus Market exit scams
17th June: Black Hand forum seized by police
29th May: Dread relaunched
15th April: German police bust child abuse site, Elysium
5th April: Elude launches its Monero exchange
30th March: Apollon Market launched
27th March: Reddit bans darknetmarkets subreddit — leading to the rise of Dread
24th March: Cannazon Market launched
January: Empire Market launched

2017

December: Grams search engine shuts down
20th October: TradeRoute exit scams following a hack and extortion
20th July: Hansa Market seized — Dutch police reveal they had operated it for a month in Operation Bayonet
5th July: AlphaBay has been seized
16th May: Outlaw Market gets hacked and shuts down
May: Elude.in launched

2016

22nd October: TheRealDeal Market shuts down
19th October: Wallstreet Market launched
28th April: Italian Darknet Community (IDC) marketplace admins arrested
April: Nucleus Market collapses, escrowed coins vanish

2015

6th September: Agora Market shuts down
31st July: Babylon Market seized by Italian police with Europol
July: Dark0de forum has been seized
18th May: Black Bank disappears in an exit scam
28th April: East India Company launched
9th April: TheRealDeal Market launched
18th March: Evolution Market exit scams
15th January: Hydra Market launched

2014

22nd December: AlphaBay v1 launched
7th November: Operation Onymous — Silk Road 2.0 and 26 other darknet sites seized
19th April: Tochka Market launched
9th March: Hansa Market launched
10th February: Utopia Market shut down by Dutch police 8 days after launch
February: Black Goblin Market and CannabisRoad closed after deanonymization

2013

29th December: Outlaw Market launched
3rd December: Agora Market launched
29th November: A vendor steals $6 million from Sheep Marketplace
15th November: Dream Market launched
Late November: Black Market Reloaded announces closure after a source code leak
6th November: Silk Road 2.0 launched
October: Project Black Flag vanishes, stealing users' bitcoins
1st October: Silk Road has been seized — see Ross Ulbricht and Silk Road (defunct)
3rd August: Freedom Hosting seized by the FBI
June: Silk Road CAPTCHA bug leaks server address

2012

May: Atlantis Market launched, the first to accept Litecoin
April: The Farmer's Market has been seized

2011

1st June: Gawker publishes "The Underground Website Where You Can Buy Any Drug Imaginable" — traffic to Silk Road explodes
31st Janurary: Silk Road launched

2010

The Farmer's Market moved to Tor.