NEAR Intents announced that it recovered nearly $3.8 million that had been stolen in a security breach that occurred on Thursday, with the incident ending in the full repayment after a series of rapid response and investigation steps.
According to what was reported, the platform was able to identify the individual associated with the security breach, then gave him a 48-hour deadline to return the funds under what it described as “responsible disclosure.” After that, NEAR Intents CEO Alex Shevchenko said that the money had been fully returned later on Friday.
Shevchenko said in a post on X that the $3.8 million from the NEAR Intents hack “has been fully returned,” adding that the team will halt the investigation and calling for the use of bug bounties instead of disabling services.
NEAR Intents had suspended its services after detecting a flaw in the interaction between the Omni deposit and withdrawal infrastructure and the NEAR Intents smart contract. Initial investigations indicated that $3.8 million of users’ funds were stolen, and the platform pledged to fully compensate affected users.
ZachXBT, a researcher tracking transactions on the blockchain, also said that funds related to the incident were transferred to the KuCoin platform and then routed through a bridge to Bitcoin.
The incident highlights the importance of rapid response in cybersecurity incidents within the digital asset sector—especially when the quick identification of the exploiter is paired with clear timelines and a framework for responsible disclosure. It also reflects that full fund recovery may be possible in some cases, giving users and institutions a practical signal of the effectiveness of protection measures and risk management.
What does the incident mean for NEAR Intents users?
• Full fund recovery reduces the direct impact on affected users.
• Temporarily pausing services and then resuming them later reflects a focus on containing the risk.
• Relying on security bounty programs may be a more effective alternative than disabling platforms.