Though overall drug sales via the dark web appear to be rather resilient, darknet markets are highly volatile and frequently appear only to disappear quickly.

• Unlike major e-commerce platforms on the clear net, darknet marketplaces typically have short lifespans – averaging just 1 year and 4 months between 2010 and 2023 – mainly due to exit scams, voluntary exits, law enforcement actions or hacks by third parties.
• Darknet markets have shifted from dominance by a few large platforms to a more fragmented landscape of smaller, short-lived markets since the dismantling of Hydra market in April 2022.
• The largest darknet market serving Western customers in recent years was Abacus, a market launched in 2021. Abacus darknet market (known for its trade in stimulants, psychedelics and unlicensed pharmaceuticals, including fentanyl, its analogues and fentanyl precursors) saw some of the strongest growth in recent years, also helped by the disappearance of a number of other market places. Abacus allegedly offered more than 40,000 products and controlled over 70 per cent of the bitcoin-based darknet market sales before stopping its operations in July 2025, following an exit scam.
• The largest remaining darknet market for “Western” customers – based on an analysis of blockchains – was allegedly the TorZon Market (created in 2022).
• The overall largest darknet markets in 2025 – based on an analysis of blockchains - were Kraken Market, followed by OMG/OMGI, Mega Darknet Markt and Blacksprut Market, all markets serving primarily Russian speaking customers worldwide.