Operators behind Joker’s Stash, the largest dark web marketplace specializing in buying and selling carding data, announced they plan to shut down the site on February 15th, 2021. While they did not provide the reason behind this move, the Joker’s Stash operators said the marketplace is shutting down for good and all the data will be wiped out from its servers after the official closing date.

“Joker goes on a well-deserved retirement. Joker's Stash is closing. When we opened years ago, nobody knew us. Today we are one of the largest cards/dumps marketplace[s],” reads a post on Joker’s Stash. “We will leave the Stash opened for 30 more days, until 2021-02-15, so all Stash users can spend account balances. On 2021-02-15 we will wipe all our servers and backups and Joker will fade to dark, forever.”

Joker’s Stash emerged in 2014 and over the years became famous for providing fresh stolen credit card data. In the past year, the marketplace has added over 40 million new records, the majority of which were CP (card present) records.

In 2020, however, the marketplace has suffered some blows, with the FBI and Interpol seizing four blockchain domains used by Joker's Stash serving as external proxy servers for the site's Tor service in December. The disruption was temporary, though.

In October Joker's Stash operations were disrupted due to the site operator getting COVID-19 and spending more than one week in a hospital.

According to cybersecurity firm Gemini Advisory, one of the possible reasons behind the marketplace’s shutdown may be Bitcoin's recent spike.

“Another event that may have contributed to this threat actor shutting down their marketplace is Bitcoin’s recent spike. JokerStash was an early advocate of Bitcoin and claims to keep all proceeds in this cryptocurrency. This actor was already likely to be among the wealthiest cybercriminals, and the spike may have multiplied their fortune, earning them enough money to retire. However, the true reason behind this shutdown remains unclear,” the researchers said.