Abacus Market | Darknet Market
Here stands a darknet market that dominates as the number 1 market in Australia, yet it's not a regional market, and never has been. In fact, it boasts over 35,000 listings from over 1,000 vendors worldwide. So you don't need to be a kangaroo or a wallaby to enjoy Abacus. Should you use it? For research and educational activity only of course. Let's see what's on offer.
Abacus Market Links
You will require the Tor Browser in order to access Abacus Market. This is completely free and available for Windows, MacOS, Linux (all distros), iOS and Android.
Key Facts about Abacus Market
| Founded | 2021 |
|---|---|
| Cryptocurrencies accepted | Bitcoin (BTC), Monero (XMR) |
| Product Categories | Drugs & Chemicals, Counterfeit Items, Digital Products, Fraud, Guides & Tutorials, Jewels & Gold, Carded Items, Services, Software & Malware, Security & Hosting |
| Notable Features | Variable Escrow times (according to region), Anti-bot protection, DDOS protection, PGP 2 Factor Authentication (optional for buyers, mandatory for vendors), Bitcoin Multisig, Forum |
The Genesis of Abacus Market
I have known about Abacus Market since their birth which started from very humble beginnings in September 2021 when they were initially called 'Alphabet Market', before swifting changing it after the (re)launch of AlphaBay Market. Awkward! After the rebrand it quickly became a hit in Sydney, Melbourne and across Australia. Why here specifically? It's not clear, but it seems likely they had links to some high profile vendors in this region. It didn't take long for the market to gain significant traction elsewhere though, with some vendors from the US and Europe now having sales number in the thousands.
The team behind Abacus have continuously improved their features, network and even the branding. It is definitely worth having a look and doing some dark web shopping... I mean, research. They even have a forum which you can use to talk about products or other dark web stuff, as your heart desires. I like these kinds of platforms that try to build a community; it shows they care about users to invest in this.
The Login Part
The Abacus login process is pretty easy once you get the hang of it. First you have to contend with a captcha consisting of 15 images, of which you pick any containing what is described in the box at the top, such as trees, road, frog, gold etc.
Once you come to actually signing up or logging in, there's a slightly different captcha challenge. Keeping those bots working overtime! Basically it goes - rotate, rotate, rotate and login. It did confuse me a bit at first since some of the images aren't always that clear, but if you fail, you can always try again. You'll get there, have no fear. It's a game of endless rotation, like in the theme parks where you never want to get off the ride. I wrote down my details as pins, mnemonic, names, codes in my dark notebook. Yes, you did guess it right, I do save them both digitally and traditionally. It is nice to pick up some pen and paper from time to time.
Looks and Layout
Abacus Market offers the choice of a dark or light theme, to suit all tastes. In less you're a panda. Sorry, you can't have both!
The layout offers that classic AlphaBay style, but heavily modernised.
Money & Security and Orders
The market requires 3 confirmations for Bitcoin and 10 for Monero. Naturally if the networks are busy, it may take a little while for your deposit to go through. If you send a decent fee for Bitcoin, expect to hit 3 confirmations in 30-40 minutes on a good day. On a bad day, maybe an hour or so. If you're not patient, or want to go for the most secure option available, opt for Monero since it only takes around 20 minutes to hit 10 confirmations. You get status updates after you deposit though, so you'll be reassured that your deposit is incoming.
There's a $600 vendor bond for new vendors now, so this makes it a very unappealing to scammers looking to make a quick buck. Not bad thing I say.
You cannot access your trade history for orders over 30 days since it all gets deleted for security reasons. I think this is good because if you ever made a mistake of encrypting your address with market’s PGP instead of the vendor’s one; you can at least sleep sound that your address will be long gone before you make that mistake twice. You are able to talk to vendors directly which is nice and support are pretty responsive should you encounter any issues. You can usually find most of what you need to know from a vendor's profile or product page though.
You can review and edit the reviews for finalized orders for up to a month. For disputes there is a window of 24 hours for a vendor to come to a resolution. If there is no solution by then, a moderator will take over and try to solve it in 48 hours. Best to contact a vendor before raising a dispute, but it's a good option if they aren't playing ball.
Keep your shopping experience safe with the escrow system. If those smarty pants vendors asking for you to finalize early before your goods have been received, I would go ahead and report them. Only vendors with FE permissions are granted this, which is reserved for super duper big vendors.
Dark Web Journalist
Final thoughts on Abacus Market
If you are a dark web market connoisseur or a casual browser, this market is a nice one to have a look around and conduct your detailed research. It's combines lessons learned over the years from markets such as AlphaBay and Empire Market, and builds up it with its own fresh perspective and modern feature set. April Aprica, the notorious one-two signing off.