Key facts
- NEAR Intents was hacked for approximately $3.8 million.
- The exploit targeted a flaw in the protocol's money-moving layer.
- The protocol restored core services within an hour after patching the vulnerability.
- All affected users will be fully reimbursed.
- NEAR's price dropped nearly 9% following the incident.
NEAR Intents, a privacy-focused crypto swapping tool, experienced a hack on Thursday resulting in approximately $3.8 million in stolen funds. The vulnerability was located in the protocol's layer responsible for moving money and its interaction with the main contract holding user assets. The attacker converted the stolen funds to Bitcoin, with the trail leading to the KuCoin exchange, according to on-chain investigator ZachXBT.
Despite the significant loss, NEAR Intents responded rapidly. The team patched the contract-side flaw and restored core services within about an hour. Deposits and withdrawals across 11 networks, including BNB Chain, Polygon, and Optimism, remained offline for an additional 12 hours while the complete fix was implemented. The protocol has committed to fully reimbursing all affected users.
In the aftermath, NEAR's price fell nearly 9% to $4.86. Shares of the Bitwise NEAR ETF also dropped more than 7%. The incident occurred during the ETF's first week, an event Bitwise had cited as evidence of the network's growth.
Commentators have noted the swift and contained nature of the response, with some calling it a 'bullish hack' in comparison to other major exploits in the crypto space. NEAR Intents' actions—finding the bug, halting services, patching, restarting quickly, publicly disclosing the issue, involving law enforcement, and committing to user compensation—have been highlighted as a model for handling such events with minimal damage.