Germany charges alleged founder of major drug platform

The “Archetyp Market” platform was closed in a major international operation in June last year, and prosecutors say that at the time it was the world’s biggest trading site for narcotics, cannabis, new psychoactive substances and medication. (CTV News Channel)

German prosecutors said Monday they had charged a man alleged to have founded and operated a major drug-trading platform on the so-called darknet, the largest of its kind before it was shut down.

The “Archetyp Market” platform was closed in a major international operation in June last year, and prosecutors say that at the time it was the world’s biggest trading site for narcotics, cannabis, new psychoactive substances and medication.

The 31-year-old German man charged on Monday, who has not been named, was arrested in June 2025 in Barcelona and extradited to Germany.

Prosecutors say that between November 2022 and June 2025 alone around 2.3 million orders were placed on Archetyp Market, with a value of 330 million euros ($380m).

The payments were made in the Monero cryptocurrency with the accused allegedly taking a cut of around five percent.

He is alleged to have earned around 20 million euros in various fees and commissions connected to the platform.

Investigators have seized around 10 million euros’ worth of assets from the accused, including cash, cryptocurrencies and luxury cars.

At the time the platform was dismantled, the EU anti-crime bodies Europol and Eurojust said it had more than 600,000 user accounts and around 3,200 vendors.

They also said it was one of the only platforms to offer fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, which have driven an epidemic of deadly overdoses in the United States.