Tor Market is a New Zealand-based dark web marketplace that has operated since March 2018, making it one of the longest-running English-language dark web drug markets ever documented. It processes transactions through cryptocurrency and Tor-based anonymous browsing. Academic research shows it grew from fewer than ten product listings in 2018 to over a thousand by 2022, with international sales eventually exceeding domestic NZ sales. Two major NZ Police operations in 2026 have targeted its vendors, but the platform itself continues operating.
Why Most Dark Web Markets Collapse
The failure modes of dark web markets fall into two categories, and both have claimed far larger operations than Tor Market.
The first is law enforcement. The tactics used to take down major platforms have become increasingly sophisticated. AlphaBay and Hansa were shut down simultaneously in 2017 in a coordinated operation where authorities had been secretly running Hansa for weeks first , gathering evidence on every vendor and buyer who transacted during that period. Authorities used the same “controlled delivery” approach against Dream Market before its 2019 closure. The pattern is: infiltrate, observe, collect, then seize.
The second cause of failure is internal: administrators exit scam their own users. This is the dark web equivalent of a CEO embezzling from the company. The operators disappear with all the cryptocurrency held in buyer and vendor accounts, leaving both sides with nothing and no recourse. It accounts for a significant proportion of market closures and has contributed to what researchers describe as a general loss of confidence in dark web supply chains.
As we’ve covered in detail when looking at how the Empire Market co-creators built their $430 million operation and eventually faced justice, the exit-scam dynamic is something operators consciously design against , but the temptation to take the money and disappear is structural in a business where identities are hidden.
Tor Market has done neither of these things. Its administrators haven’t disappeared with user funds. Its infrastructure hasn’t been seized. That combination alone, sustained over eight years, is genuinely unusual.
How Tor Market Grew and Went International
Academic research from The Conversation documented Tor Market’s unusual growth trajectory across its first four years.
The platform had fewer than ten product listings before Dream Market’s closure in early 2019. When Dream Market went offline, buyers and vendors needed somewhere to go. Tor Market was one of the options. By July 2019, it had over a hundred listings.
Through 2020 it averaged 255 listings. Through 2021 that rose to 379. By mid-2022 the platform had exceeded a thousand products.
More significantly, the nature of that growth shifted. Tor Market started as a domestic New Zealand marketplace, connecting NZ-based vendors with NZ buyers and relying on local post and courier for delivery. But by early 2022, international sales had grown to outnumber domestic ones.
That internationalisation is what makes Tor Market something more than a local curiosity. It operates now as a genuinely international dark web market that happens to be based in New Zealand, drawing vendors and buyers from well beyond the country’s three million internet-connected households.
What NZ Police Have Done in 2026
New Zealand Police have not been idle. Two significant operations in 2026 specifically targeted dark web drug activity, and both show the reach of what’s happening through the platform.
In February 2026, Operation Solana , a nine-month investigation led by the National Organised Crime Group , resulted in 11 arrests and the seizure of NZ$500,000 in cash, three firearms (including a 3D-printed weapon), and significant quantities of methamphetamine, cocaine, MDMA, and ketamine. The drugs being sent to New Zealand in that operation came from the UK, Europe, and the United States. New Zealand Customs and overseas partners including the US and Australian Border Force seized more than 200 kilograms of controlled drugs at international borders destined for the syndicate.
Detective Senior Sergeant Jason Hunt delivered the law enforcement message clearly: “Offending on the dark web is not invisible. These arrests send a clear message: if you are importing or dealing drugs through the dark web, we will find you, and we will hold you to account.”
In March 2026, Operation Laver targeted what police described as a “prolific” user on “the country’s largest dark web server” , a reference that points directly at Tor Market. The account in question had allegedly conducted around 2,800 individual drug transactions over nine months, from June 2025 to March 2026, across 13 different drug types including methamphetamine, cocaine, MDMA, GBL, and ketamine. The estimated value of those transactions was NZ$1.2 million. A 35-year-old man and a 32-year-old woman were arrested at a rural Auckland property, where police found drugs in various stages of preparation for supply to customers.
These are vendor-level arrests, not platform shutdowns. The market itself continues.
Why Tor Market Has Outlasted Its Competitors
The research and the operational pattern together suggest several reasons for Tor Market’s longevity.
Size and visibility may paradoxically help. Larger markets attract more attention from the international law enforcement coalitions that have the resources to pursue coordinated multi-agency takedowns. Hydra Market, which processed billions in annual transactions and dominated Russian-language drug markets, attracted a coordinated US-German operation that seized its servers and arrested its operators. Tor Market, despite significant growth, remains smaller in absolute terms than the targets that law enforcement has prioritised.
Geographic jurisdiction adds complexity. A platform based in New Zealand that increasingly serves international buyers creates a cross-jurisdiction investigation problem. Following every thread back to a server, identifying operators, and coordinating enforcement across multiple countries takes time and resources that scale with the number of countries involved.
And the administrators appear to have resisted the exit-scam temptation that has ended many other markets. Eight years of operation without an administrator-driven collapse is a track record that builds vendor and buyer confidence, which in turn attracts more activity, which sustains the platform.
This is the same flywheel that dark web markets have used to build reputation through review systems , credibility built over time is the asset the platform is protecting by staying operational. Exit scamming destroys that asset irreversibly.
What This Means for Drug Policy
The existence and persistence of Tor Market raises genuine questions for New Zealand’s drug policy environment that go beyond law enforcement tactics.
The academic research on dark web drug markets suggests that, for many buyers, the appeal isn’t solely price or convenience. It’s harm reduction. Dark web markets allow buyers to research vendors, read reviews, and make more informed purchasing decisions than street-based supply chains allow. Some markets have encouraged vendors to provide accurate content information and dosage guidance. Whether that’s a net harm or a net benefit compared to unregulated street supply is a genuine policy question that researchers continue to debate.
What’s clear is that the market has survived and grown despite enforcement activity, and that enforcement has primarily been catching individual vendors rather than shutting down the platform. The pattern looks more like pressure than eradication.
As we’ve seen with similar operations in Canada targeting dark web drug networks, prosecuting vendors catches individual actors but rarely closes the underlying marketplace. The infrastructure continues to operate and new vendors emerge to fill the gap.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Tor Market?
A New Zealand-based dark web drug marketplace active since March 2018. It’s considered one of the longest-running English-language dark web markets in documented history.
Is Tor Market still operating?
As of 2026, yes. NZ Police Operation Laver in March 2026 referenced “the country’s largest dark web server” in connection with 2,800 transactions , indicating the platform remains active.
Why has Tor Market survived when other markets failed?
The main reasons appear to be relatively lower international profile compared to major platforms that drew coordinated law enforcement attention, operator behaviour that hasn’t included exit scams, and a growing reputation that builds user confidence.
What has NZ Police done about it?
Two major operations in 2026 , Operation Solana (11 arrests, February) and Operation Laver (2 arrests, March) , both targeted dark web drug activity, catching vendors but not shutting down the platform itself.