NEAR Intents Recovers $3.8M, Blast Shuts Down, Bitcoin ETFs See $103M Inflows

NEAR Intents has recovered approximately $3.8 million in funds stolen during a Thursday security breach after issuing a 48-hour ultimatum to the identified exploiter. General manager Alex Shevchenko confirmed the complete return of funds via X on Friday, writing: "The funds from the $3.8M NEAR Intents hack were sent back in full. We are stopping the investigation. Please use bug bounties instead of disrupting the services." The swift resolution came after Cointelegraph reported that NEAR Intents had identified the individual behind the breach and demanded the return of funds under a "responsible disclosure" framework.

Ethereum layer-2 network Blast is shutting down after its operators concluded there is no "credible path" to economic sustainability, with operating costs consistently exceeding revenue. The network, launched in 2023 by Blur founder Tieshun "Pacman" Roquerre, attracted more than $2 billion ahead of its February 2024 mainnet launch by offering native yield on Ether and stablecoins. However, its DeFi total value locked has plunged more than 98% from a roughly $2.2 billion peak in June 2024. Blast will shorten its withdrawal delay to 24 hours and has set an Oct. 26 deadline for users to withdraw through its platform, after which assets will remain accessible only via direct interaction with the network's bridge contracts on Ethereum mainnet.

US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds flipped back to net inflows on the first trading day of October, attracting $102.7 million on Thursday after recording $148.7 million in net outflows the previous day, according to SoSoValue data. The inflows mark a positive start to what crypto observers have dubbed "Uptober," following the funds' strongest quarter of 2026. Combined net assets across the spot Bitcoin ETFs rose to $109.3 billion, signaling renewed institutional appetite as the market heads into the final quarter of the year.