The US Justice Department (DOJ) and Europol announced on November 12 that they arrested 354 individuals and seized more than $234 million in cash and cryptocurrency in an operation that ran from May 2025 to October this year.
The operation involved law enforcement agencies in 14 countries to pursue drug sellers and buyers on the dark web. Investigators did not say how much of the $234 million represented drug-sale proceeds. The remaining question now is: Will removing drug vendors and seizing assets reduce future sales, or will the business simply move to another marketplace?
A record JCODE takedown across four continents
The operation known as Operation TorNado was aimed at individuals believed to be engaged in the trade of drugs via dark web marketplaces. This was the sixth and, to date, greatest international effort by the U.S. Justice Department’s Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement (JCODE) team since 2018. The operation was based on Operation RapTor in 2025, which was founded on the evidence gathered from the four previously dismantled markets, namely: Bohemia, Nemesis, Kingdom, and Tor2Door. Operation TorNado also targeted the available vendors and buyers from Archetyp, another market that was dismantled in June 2025.
According to the DOJ, the US recorded 132 arrests, followed by the UK with 59, Hungary with 45, Germany with 41, and France with 23. FBI Director Kash Patel highlighted the scale of the arrests:
“Operation TorNado is the largest interagency takedown of Dark Web drug vendors and buyers to date.”
— Kash Patel, FBI director, in the DOJ statement
Police also seized about 5.7 metric tons of drugs, 209 firearms, and 38 pill presses. The $234 million in seized assets included both cash and cryptocurrency. However, officials did not disclose how much was cryptocurrency alone. Europol reported more than €210 million in seized criminal assets.
Beyond the arrests and seizures, Attorney General Todd Blanche argued that the crackdown had dealt a serious blow to the vendors operating on these markets:
“Operation TorNado crippled Dark Web market vendors.”
— Todd Blanche, U.S. Attorney General, in the DOJ statement
How investigators attributed the accounts
Previous takedowns of marketplaces have provided a means for investigators to track anonymous accounts involved in the drug trade. The DOJ stated that these leads played a vital role in linking accounts on DrugHub and Archetyp to real people. Moreover, Europol explained that different countries within Europe were carrying out separate investigations using shared intelligence information and forensic analysis.
Neither agency claimed investigators broke Monero’s cryptography. In fact, Europol’s Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment (IOCTA) 2026 notes how privacy coins and offshore exchanges make illicit funds harder to trace.
Why the markets keep coming back
Closing a marketplace does not necessarily stop its business. Chainalysis estimated that darknet markets and drug vendors received slightly over $2.5 billion in crypto in 2025, up modestly from 2024. TorZon, for example, gained ground after Abacus Market closed in July 2025.
Europol’s IOCTA 2026, describes the same pattern. Users move to surviving markets, while new platforms appear after takedowns.
Payment preferences are changing too. TRM Labs found that 48% of darknet markets launched in 2025 accepted only Monero (XMR), sharply up from earlier years. The figure covers new markets, not all active ones.
What it means for exchanges and compliance
Monero has held up despite exchange restrictions. TRM Labs found activity still above pre-2022 levels, with liquidity increasingly concentrated offshore or at less-regulated venues. The FATF’s July 2026 update, warns of risks from providers operating without effective oversight.
The earlier RapTor operation brought 270 arrests and more than $200 million in seizures in May 2025. TorNado surpassed both. Exchanges still need to monitor exposure to illicit services. But larger seizures alone cannot show whether the underlying trade has shrunk.
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This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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