In mid-June 2025, international law enforcement executed “Operation Deep Sentinel” to take down Archetyp (Archtype) Market, one of the longest-running darknet drug bazaars . The coordinated raids (June 11–13) involved over 300 officers across six countries, led by Germany’s BKA with support from Europol, Eurojust and partners in Spain, the Netherlands, Romania, Sweden and the U.S. . The market’s servers, hosted in the Netherlands, were seized and its infrastructure taken offline. All access points now display an official police seizure banner, signaling the permanent shutdown.
The Europol headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands, the pan-European law enforcement agency that coordinated the Archetyp Market takedown .
Key Operation Highlights:
- Codename & Leadership: Operation Deep Sentinel (June 11–13, 2025) was spearheaded by Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), with Europol and Eurojust coordinating the cross-border effort. U.S. agencies (DOJ/FBI/IRS) also participated .
- Targets & Arrests: The operation targeted Archetyp’s administrators, moderators, top vendors and servers . A 30-year-old German national (alias “ASNT”) suspected to be the chief admin was arrested by Spanish police in Barcelona . Law enforcement also apprehended one senior moderator and six high-volume vendors during simultaneous raids in Germany and Sweden.
- Evidence Seized: Investigators confiscated digital evidence and assets during the raids, including 47 smartphones, 45 computers, narcotics and approximately €7.8 million in cash and cryptocurrency . Luxury cars and other property linked to the suspects were also seized. Europol’s Deputy Director Jean-Philippe Lecouffe praised the action as “a decisive strike” against a major supply line of dangerous drugs.
Archetyp Market: Five Years of Monero-Only Drug Sales
Launched in May 2020, Archetyp Market quickly grew into a major drug marketplace on the Tor network. It advertised over 17,000 illicit product listings from roughly 3,200 vendors , specializing exclusively in narcotics. Typical offerings included cocaine, MDMA, heroin, cannabis and amphetamines . Notably, Archetyp was one of the few markets openly allowing highly potent synthetic opioids like fentanyl . According to Europol and reporting, Archetyp amassed over 600,000 registered users and facilitated more than €250 million in drug sales over its lifetime , figures comparable to Silk Road or Dream Market at their peaks.
- Exclusive Monero Payments: All transactions on Archetyp were conducted in Monero (XMR), a privacy-focused cryptocurrency . The market’s homepage even declared “we accept Monero only” as a selling point. Monero’s built‑in anonymity features (stealth addresses, ring signatures and confidential transactions) make blockchain tracing extremely difficult, which is why darknet vendors prize it .
- Scale & Trust: Archetyp’s size and longevity gave it a reputation comparable to early darknet giants. It absorbed users from earlier shut markets (like Flugsvamp and Dream) and “became one of the dark web’s longest-running drug markets”. For a time, it was the top Tor hidden service by traffic. Its enduring popularity suggests many customers and vendors viewed it as reliable and well-secured (aside from the inevitable exit-scam worries when it suddenly went offline ).
Monero’s Role and Market Adaptation
Archetyp’s Monero-only model reflects a broader shift in darknet finance. Monero is designed for privacy above all else, and criminal forums often hail it as “what Bitcoin was supposed to be” . Law enforcement noted that Archetyp’s reliance on XMR complicated tracking, as “the architecture [of Monero] makes tracing much more of a pain for authorities”. This is part of a trend: TRM Labs reports that the share of new marketplaces accepting only Monero jumped from about one-third in 2023 to nearly half in 2024.
Despite these privacy measures, international investigators succeeded by combining technical work and blockchain intelligence. Europol said the takedown followed “years of intensive investigative work to map the platform’s technical architecture and identify the individuals behind it. By tracing financial flows [and] analyzing digital forensic evidence… authorities delivered a decisive blow”. In short, Monero gives criminals more cover, but law enforcement continues to innovate ways to adapt.
Still from “Operation Deep Sentinel,” the animated video released by European law enforcement after the Archetyp raids. The video (a “cyberpunk”-style seizure notice) highlights the coordinated effort of police agencies.
Impact on Users and the Darknet Ecosystem
The abrupt shutdown has left former users in limbo. When Archetyp went dark, many buyers and vendors initially feared an exit scam, a scenario where the admin vanishes with all escrowed funds. Instead, authorities now control the site’s cryptocurrency holdings. All Monero held in Archetyp’s escrow and vendor accounts is effectively frozen for investigation. Users will not be able to withdraw these funds, and it remains unclear if or how victims might recover losses (through law enforcement or legal claims). On the site itself, a police seizure banner links to an official notice (including a stylized video address to “the underground economy”), making clear that the market will not be returning .
For the wider darknet ecosystem, Archetyp’s fall is a setback but not an end. Analysts warn that illicit trade quickly adapts to enforcement pressure. Blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs notes that even as big markets crumble, many vendors are moving to peer-to-peer channels (encrypted messaging apps like Telegram or Signal) or quickly migrate to newer markets. Indeed, after previous busts (e.g. Hydra, Incognito), underground markets re-emerged or consolidated. The Archetyp arrest is a high-profile hit, but experts say it simply shifts the landscape. New or existing darknet platforms, often Monero-centric, will likely absorb the displaced business.
Going forward, law enforcement stresses continued collaboration and innovation. As TRM Labs observes, these takedowns send a message but “underscore the need for continued cross-border collaboration, technical innovation, and real-time monitoring to stay ahead of the next generation of darknet threats” . The Archetyp operation shows that sophisticated blockchain analysis and international cooperation can disrupt even entrenched markets. But the proliferation of privacy coins and encrypted communications means the cat-and-mouse game on the darknet will continue evolving.
Sources: International press reports and official statements , including coverage by Europol and blockchain intelligence firms, detail the scale and consequences of the Archetyp Market takedown. These include Europol and BKA announcements, Cointelegraph and Reuters news articles, and technical analysis from TRM Labs and other cybersecurity outlets. Each fact above is corroborated by multiple authorities in those reports.