Which darknet marketplaces had the highest revenue estimates in 2024–2026?
Executive summary
By mid‑2024 through early‑2026 the highest revenue estimates clustered around a small set of large “supermarkets” and a handful of specialized fraud/data shops: Mega Darknet (reported as leading with crypto inflows in the hundreds of millions), Abacus (the dominant Western market with tens of millions in on‑chain revenue), and a set of niche leaders such as Brian’s Club and Blacksprut that handled sizable card‑data and dumps traffic (estimates vary by source and methodology) [1] [2] [3]. Overall industry totals are commonly placed near $2 billion in 2024, but public, verifiable breakdowns by market are inconsistent and fragment depending on geography, currency choice, and whether analysts track Bitcoin-only flows or include Monero and off‑chain fiat conversions [4] [5] [6].
1. Mega Darknet: the half‑billion leader in crypto inflows
Analysts cited in reporting identified Mega Darknet as the single largest recipient of crypto inflows after Hydra’s 2022 takedown, estimating “over half a billion dollars” in flows that put it atop the market in 2024–2025; Chainalysis‑style blockchain tracing underpins that claim in Infosecurity’s coverage . That figure reflects tracked cryptocurrency movements tied to marketplace wallets and campaigns rather than actual escrowed retail turnover, and it is sensitive to attribution choices and whether Monero‑denominated activity is visible [6].
2. Abacus Market: Western superstore with multi‑million on‑chain tallies
Multiple profiles portray Abacus as the dominant English‑language general market through 2024 and into 2025, with tens of thousands of listings and reported on‑chain revenue figures cited at roughly $43 million for 2024 and other estimates placing annualized value in the low‑tens of millions [6] [1] [7]. Those figures come from on‑chain tracing and vendor listing tallies; firms and commentators warn this understates activity that migrates off‑chain (Monero) or into private Telegram channels [6] [7] [5].
3. Fraud shops and data dumps: Brian’s Club, Blacksprut, Kraken and peers
Specialist markets for card dumps, CVV and fullz — Brian’s Club, Blacksprut, Kraken Market and similar “fraud shops” — repeatedly surface in reports as high‑impact revenue generators because stolen card data is monetized at scale and fed into physical fraud and money‑laundering chains [2] [3] [8]. Infosecurity cites Kraken and Blacksprut alongside Mega Darknet when listing top crypto inflows, and industry writeups assert Blacksprut controls a significant share of market visibility in some datasets [8].
4. Sector‑level totals: ~$2 billion in 2024, with rebound and fragmentation caveats
Multiple aggregations — Chainalysis figures cited broadly across reporting — place total darknet marketplace revenue around $2 billion in 2024, down from earlier $3.1 billion peaks in 2021 but rebounding after law‑enforcement disruptions such as Hydra’s seizure [4] [5] [3]. These headline totals are useful for trend narratives but mask fragmentation: modern markets specialize, many flows use privacy coins or Telegram sales, and attribution errors mean market‑by‑market rankings should be treated as estimates [3] [5].
5. Methodological blind spots and the Telegram effect
Security commentators and tracking firms note large blind spots: Monero transactions are opaque, Telegram‑based storefronts and invite‑only channels shift activity off‑chain, and advertised listings do not equal completed sales; Wired/Elliptic reporting and Schneier’s synopsis emphasize Telegram’s rise and the resulting challenge for traditional on‑chain measurement [9] [5]. Consequently, markets that appear smaller on Bitcoin on‑chain tallies may actually host substantial untraceable commerce, and analyses that restrict to BTC inflows undercount those venues [9] [6].
6. Bottom line: who had the highest estimated revenues 2024–2026?
Based on published reporting and blockchain‑analysis citations, the highest‑estimated revenue hubs for 2024–2026 were Mega Darknet (top by reported crypto inflows, >$500M cited), Abacus Market (largest Western market with $40M+ on‑chain reported in 2024 and multi‑million annualized estimates), and a set of specialist fraud/data markets including Brian’s Club, Blacksprut and Kraken that together accounted for substantial card‑fraud cashflows; total sector revenue is commonly quoted at about $2 billion for 2024 though the allocation across venues remains imprecise due to privacy coins and off‑platform sales [1] [6] [2] [4].