Silk Road competitor Atlantis recently announced plans to shut down shop following a brief six-month run. A message on the website said the service was forced to close down due to security reasons out of their control. Anyone with coins still in the system has one week to remove them; any currency left in the system at that time will be donated to a drug-related charity of the site’s choosing.
The site launched earlier this year to plenty of fanfare. Much like the Silk Road, Atlantis operated on the Deep Web through the Tor network as a place to buy and sell illegal drugs, forgeries, etc. The site was said to be a new and improved virtual black market that offered cheaper rates, advanced features, ease-of-use, encrypted chat and support for Bitcoin and Litecoin.
Whereas competitor Silk Road is all about keeping a low profile as to not alert suspicion, Atlantis went as far as releasing an animated commercial that depicted a stoner named Charlie using the service to score some “dank buds.” In hindsight, perhaps advertising for a marketplace that sells all sorts of illegal wares wasn’t the best idea.
Naturally, some are a bit skeptical about the site’s sudden popularity and decline. The site has been accused of being little more than a honeypot – a type of sting operation owned and operated by police to lure criminals in.
With Atlantis now defunct, Silk Road and Black Market Reloaded remain unchallenged on the Deep Web.
https://www.techspot.com/news/54088-deep-web-news-silk-road-competitor-atlantis-calls-it-quits.html
