AlphaBay
Sign in to saveAlso known as AlphaBay Market
AlphaBay was a darknet market operating at different times between September 2014 and February 2023. At times, it was both an onion service on the Tor network and an I2P node on I2P. After it was shut down in July 2017 following law enforcement action in the United States, Canada, and Thailand as part of Operation Bayonet, it was relaunched in August 2021 by the self-described co-founder and security administrator DeSnake. The alleged original founder, Alexandre Cazes, a Canadian citizen born on 19 October 1991, was found dead in his cell in Thailand several days after his arrest, with police
Key facts
- Website.name
- AlphaBay
- Website.logo
- Alphabaylogo.png
- Website.screenshot
- Alphabaylogin.png
- Website.caption
- AlphaBay login screen
- Website.commercial
- Yes
- Website.type
- Darknet market
- Website.registration
- Required
- Website.language
- English
- Website.num_users
- 400,000+
- Website.owner
- DeSnake
- Website.author
- DeSnake
- Website.launch_date
- September 2014
- Website.revenue
- Over USD$23M (total over operation)
- Website.current_status
- Offline
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Official website
- clcua5cwkutouq2mgpf4dgejgx6reugt7pma5h5sueyogfl57xfsd5ad.onion
- Image
- Alphabay-forfeiture-notice-screenshot-2017-05-12.png
Show 2 more facts
- inception
- 2013-12-00
- dissolved, abolished or demolished date
- 2017-07-00
via Wikidata · CC0
~10 min read
Article
9 sectionsContents
- History
- Site breaches
- News coverage
- Seizure and shutdown
- Timeline
- Relaunch
- See also
- References
- Further reading
AlphaBay was a darknet market operating at different times between September 2014 and February 2023. At times, it was both an onion service on the Tor network and an I2P node on I2P. After it was shut down in July 2017 following law enforcement action in the United States, Canada, and Thailand as part of Operation Bayonet, it was relaunched in August 2021 by the self-described co-founder and security administrator DeSnake. The alleged original founder, Alexandre Cazes, a Canadian citizen born on 19 October 1991, was found dead in his cell in Thailand several days after his arrest, with police suspecting suicide.
== History == AlphaBay reportedly launched in September 2014, pre-launched in November 2014 and officially launched on December 22, 2014. It saw a steady growth, with 14,000 new users in the first 90 days of operation. In October 2015, it was recognized as the largest online darknet market according to Dan Palumbo, research director at Digital Citizens Alliance.