Dream Market Administration Explains Reason for Marketplace Closure

Earlier this week, it was announced that one of the largest darknet marketplaces, Dream Market, will shut down on April 30, 2019. At that time, a brief message appeared on Dream Market’s homepage stating that after the specified date, all services would be transferred to a “partner company,” whose website has not yet launched.

As previously reported, the appearance of this announcement coincided with press releases from the FBI, Europol, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. These agencies detailed a large-scale joint operation called SaboTor, aimed at combating drug trafficking on the darknet. Law enforcement reported dozens of arrests and searches as part of this operation.

Unsurprisingly, this strange coincidence caused Dream Market users to panic, and various theories began circulating on social media. Some even speculated that law enforcement agencies were already in control of the marketplace, making it unsafe to access Dream Market or the new site expected to launch later.

In response, the Dream Market team decided to clarify the reasons behind the sudden need to close the marketplace. As shown in the screenshot below, a site moderator explained that for the past seven weeks, the site had been suffering from severe DDoS attacks (previously, technical issues had already been noted on Dream Market). After a prolonged DDoS attack, the marketplace operators were demanded to pay a ransom of $400,000 to stop the attacks, but they refused to pay. As a result, the decision was made to transfer Dream Market to a “partner company,” which, apparently, will be able to handle the problem.