NEAR Intents Recovers $3.8M After 48-Hour Ultimatum to Exploiter

NEAR Intents has recovered the full $3.8 million stolen in a security breach after identifying the exploiter and issuing a 48-hour deadline to return the funds under terms of "responsible disclosure." The funds were sent back in full on Friday, prompting the protocol to halt its investigation.

The incident stemmed from a "bug in the Omni deposit and withdrawal infrastructure interaction with NEAR Intents smart contract," according to the project. NEAR paused services after detecting the vulnerability and later pledged to compensate affected users in full from its own reserves. Blockchain investigator ZachXBT traced the stolen assets to the KuCoin exchange, where they were bridged to Bitcoin.

Alex Shevchenko, general manager of NEAR Intents, confirmed the return of funds in a post on X, urging would-be attackers to use official bug bounty programs rather than exploit protocol weaknesses. The swift recovery marks a rare positive outcome in the increasingly common pattern of DeFi exploits, underscoring both the value of on-chain forensics and the effectiveness of public pressure on identified attackers.