TheBlock
NEAR Intents halted its cross-chain swap service Thursday after an exploit caused approximately $3.8 million in losses. The team traced the incident to a bug in how its Omni deposit and withdrawal infrastructure interacted with the NEAR Intents smart contract. It said the vulnerability had been patched and pledged to fully compensate the lost funds.
Why it matters
The team expected NEAR Intents and Near.com to resume operations within an hour of its update. Deposits and withdrawals on 11 blockchain networks, including BSC, Polygon and Optimism, were expected to remain unavailable for roughly another 12 hours. That distinction matters for users: reopening the main services would not immediately restore every route for moving funds.
Blockchain investigator ZachXBT flagged irregular outflows from the protocol's BSC hot wallet and said the stolen funds were sent to KuCoin and bridged to Bitcoin. NEAR Intents said it was working with law enforcement and blockchain analytics platforms to trace the funds and would publish a post-mortem in the coming days.
Market impact
NEAR, the NEAR Protocol token, was down 6.7% on the day at $4.96. Bitwise's NEAR ETF, NRR, had launched two days earlier and was down 6.4% at the time of the report, erasing Wednesday's gains and more.
The disruption follows NEAR's announcement roughly a month and a half earlier that lifetime volume moved through the platform had crossed $25 billion. For users and investors, the immediate tests are whether the promised compensation is delivered and whether deposits and withdrawals resume across all affected networks.
Frequently asked questions
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What caused the NEAR Intents exploit?
The team attributed it to a bug in how its Omni deposit and withdrawal infrastructure interacted with the NEAR Intents smart contract. It said the contract vulnerability had been patched.
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Will users recover the funds lost in the exploit?
NEAR Intents pledged to fully compensate the approximately $3.8 million in lost funds.
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Which NEAR Intents operations faced the longest interruption?
Deposits and withdrawals on 11 networks, including BSC, Polygon and Optimism, were expected to remain unavailable for roughly 12 hours longer. NEAR Intents and Near.com were expected to reopen sooner.
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Where did the stolen funds go?
Blockchain investigator ZachXBT said funds from irregular BSC hot-wallet outflows were sent to KuCoin and bridged to Bitcoin. NEAR Intents said it was working with law enforcement and blockchain analytics platforms to trace them.
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How did NEAR and Bitwise's NEAR ETF react?
NEAR was down 6.7% on the day at $4.96. Bitwise's NEAR ETF, NRR, was down 6.4% two days after its launch, erasing Wednesday's gains and more.
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