The darknet market Alphabay has been shuttered. One alleged operator, Alexandre Cazes, died in a Thai jail cell following his arrest. His captors insist Cazes was found hung, implying his death was a suicide. Given the recently departed's alleged position in relation to a sum of value in Bitcoin, more sinister explanations for Cazes' demise are possible and likely.1

This is yet another episode highlighting the dangers of attempting to use USG honeypots like the Tor network as tools. The timing suggests increasing desperation by fiat aligned interests in concordance with other recent acts of desperation.