Interested in the history of the darknet? This is our darknet journal, a summary of recent and past events that have taken place on the darknet. Credit goes to Gwern.net, OnionTree, Darknetlive, The Tor Times and Dread for the information on this list. Click an entry to view the source!
Entries with a yellow dash next to them have a clearnet source!
Note about DNS leaks for beginners: Some links in this journal are a Dread link. Without a configuration (on your COMPUTER MACHINE) intended to prevent DNS leaks, clicking one (USING YOUR MOUSE CURSOR TO “TOUCH” ONE) in a normal browser (A BROWSER THAT IS NOT THE TOR BROWSER) could result in the request being sent to your DNS resolver (NOT GOOD).
5th April
Elude Exchange Exit Scams
30th March
Tor Market Announces Temporary Closure
5th March
Dread Relaunches
14th February
AlphaBay Exit Scams
20th January
Kilos Exchange Exit Scams
3rd January
Deutschland im Deep Web Seized
2022
9th June
Tor Network experiences a network-wide DDoS
26th May
VenTor Launched
22nd May
Versus Retires
12th April
Dread Launches I2P Mirror
6th April
xChange.me Shuts Down
5th April
Hydra Market Gets Seized
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
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 Potentiality 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
11th June
Slilpp Has Been Sezied
23rd May
Bohemia Market Launched
5th May
DarkDotFail Regained Control of His Domain
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 Concensus 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
30th 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
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 - Estimate
Yellow Brick Market Launched
April - Estimate
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
24th March
Cannazon Market Launched
January - Estimate
Empire Market Launched
2017
5th July
AlphaBay Has Been Seized
16th May
Outlaw Market Gets Hacked and Shuts Down
May - Estimate
Elude.in Launched
2016
22nd October
TheRealDeal Market Shuts Down
19th October
Wallstreet Market Launched
2015
6th September
Agora Market Shuts Down
July - Estimate
Dark0de Forum has Been Seized
28th April
East India Company Launched
9th April
TheRealDeal Market Launched
18th March
Evolution Market Exit Scams
2015 - Estimate
Hydra Market Launched
2014
22nd December
AlphaBay Launched
19th April
Tochka Market Launched
9th March
Hansa Market Launched
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
1st October
Silk Road has Been Seized
2012
April - Estimate
The Farmer's Market has Been Seized
2011
31st January
Silk Road Launched
2010
2010 - Estimate
The Farmer's Market Moved To Tor