NEAR Intents has officially ended its investigation after an exploiter returned the entirety of $3.8 million stolen during a recent security incident. The hack occurred on October 1 and was isolated to the BNB Chain, targeting an integration bug on the Omni system that operates NEAR Intents, a cross-chain system designed to let users move funds without bridges.
The project's team identified the issue using its SHIELD security layer and temporarily shut down NEAR Intents for approximately about an hour during the initial investigation. Within 24 hours, the attacker was tracked, and Alex Shevchenko, General Manager of NEAR Intents and Co-Founder of Aurora Labs, issued a 48-hour ultimatum for the return of the funds.
Shortly after the warning, the attacker initiated contact and negotiated the return. Shevchenko subsequently confirmed that the funds were fully recovered and announced the end of the investigation, advising individuals to utilize bug bounties rather than disrupting services. Illia Polosukhin, Founder of Near Protocol, echoed this sentiment, encouraging security researchers to rely on established bug bounty programs.
The identity of the attacker has not been made public. The incident marks one of the fastest recent exploit resolutions, with all stolen assets recovered within two days. By comparison, broader industry data from DeFiLlama showed that crypto hack-related losses surged significantly in the third quarter, rising from $86 million at the end of June to $742 million at the end of September, with over $1.25 billion lost since July.
Despite the successful recovery, the resolution did not immediately boost the value of the NEAR token amid broader market weakness. NEAR extended its losses by 16% and broke below a key trendline support, leaving $4 and $3.5 as potential subsequent support zones if the downward trend continues.
