Darknet markets have gone bust after their administrators disappear with all of the cryptocurrency being held in escrow. One leading market on the darknet – meaning it can only be reached via the anonymizing Tor browser – called Empire disappeared after an exit scam. One of its main rivals, Icarus, subsequently appears to have done the same. Europol warned last year that many darknet marketplace-using buyers and sellers, stung by police takedowns of AlphaBay, Hansa and other marketplaces, were moving away from encrypted messaging apps instead.”]
Source: https://www.cuinfosecurity.com/blogs/encrypted-chat-apps-arent-replacing-darknet-markets-p-2949