Timeline

The Darknet Timeline 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

This timeline was researched and documented by the Darknet community itself — thank you to every community member who reported, verified and shared these events as they happened. If you spot something missing or incorrect, get in touch and help us keep the record straight.

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.