Near Intents Recovers $3.8 Million Following Ultimatum to Attacker
Written with artificial intelligence.
Near Intents announced that it successfully recovered approximately $3.8 million that was exploited, just a day after revealing it had identified the attacker and issued a 48-hour ultimatum. The funds were returned in full, with the attacker acknowledging their wrongdoing.
Recovery of Funds
Near Intents, a cross-chain swap service, confirmed on Friday that it has recovered the nearly $3.8 million that was drained in an exploit on Thursday. This recovery occurred just a day after the company's general manager, Alex Shevchenko, publicly identified the attacker and issued a 48-hour ultimatum for the return of the stolen funds.
Ultimatum and Response
In a post on X, Shevchenko stated, "The funds from the $3.8M NEAR Intents hack were sent back in full. We are stopping the investigation." He had previously provided specific Bitcoin, BNB/Ethereum, and Solana addresses for the return of the funds, directly addressing the attacker with, "We have identified you, sir."
The attacker responded with an on-chain message expressing regret, stating, "We've returned all the funds, we were in the wrong," and thanked the Near team for their cooperation. They also encouraged the use of bug bounties to prevent such incidents in the future.
Incident Overview
The exploit occurred due to a bug in the interaction between Near Intents' Omni deposit and withdrawal layer and its main smart contract, allowing the attacker to siphon off funds. Following the incident, Near Intents had temporarily halted its services and pledged to fully compensate affected users while reporting the case to law enforcement. Blockchain analyst ZachXBT noted that the stolen funds were redirected to KuCoin and bridged to Bitcoin.
This incident followed closely on the heels of another security scare, where Near Intents had blocked a $50 million swap attempt linked to a hacker involved in a larger breach attributed to North Korea. Shevchenko concluded by urging others to utilize bug bounties rather than resorting to disruptive exploits.