US DOJ and Europol defeat major modelo-powered dark web market

Archetyp, the largest drug market on the Dark Web, was shut down after a police attack. International law enforcement seized a wealth of data on employees, vendors and buyers. The Dark Web market was well known for carrying out all transactions using the privacy token Monero (XMR).

With five years of aggressive trading and a total of $250 million, Archetyp was the Titan in this sector. The dark web drug market is more refined, but police are cracking down on it.

Dark Web Crypto Market Hunting

The Crypto community in 2025 has a significant proportion of criminal activity, but the dark web drug market can sometimes look like a relic of a bygone era. Many of the largest websites have long been discontinued, and existing Bitcoin wallets are considered “ancient.”

But the seizure of the typical law enforcement agency, the world’s largest dark web drug market, reminds us that it is still an active trade.

“I’m sorry, but I was arrested by the Spanish policy special forces on June 11. I was arrested on behalf of the German (German) prosecutor’s office on any ainmous claims of the Netherlands, Sweden, Sweden, the United States, the United States, Europe and Eurojust.

Needless to say, this high level of international cooperation demonstrates the government’s desire to close these sites.

Dark web laundering tools are more refined, but there have been many advances in cross-border operations over the past few months. Archetyp is one of the victims of this wide, dark web crackdown.

A self-styled “hidden bazaar,” Archetyp has been the world’s largest dark web drug market to date. Over the course of five years of operation, it had a lifetime trading volume of over $250 million.

Local enforcement seized $7.8 million worth of assets, but their press releases do not clarify the amount of crypto, computer hardware or drugs.

In any case, police were able to penetrate Archetyp’s Dark web network, from core developers to vendors and buyers. This intelligence scoop was notable for several reasons.

Archetyp has implemented strong operational hygiene: TOR-only access, PGP encrypted communication, escrow, and 2FA for vendor-user interaction. There was also an exclusive membership model. Only invitees can participate in this market.

Most notably, the platform uses only Monero instead of Bitcoin to further promote user privacy.

Now, many of Archetyp’s core staff have been arrested, and Dark Web has lost its biggest drug market. Certainly, long-term organizations tend to resurface, but the five-year continuous operation is very impressive.

The sector represents Crypto’s most fundamentally libertarian community and was devastated.