NEAR Intents Suspends Operations Following $3.8 Million Exploit
Written with artificial intelligence.
NEAR Intents has halted its services after a security breach resulted in losses of approximately $3.8 million due to a bug in its Omni infrastructure. The company has pledged to fully reimburse affected users without requiring any action on their part.
Security Breach Details
On October 1, NEAR Intents paused its operations after discovering a significant security breach that led to unauthorized withdrawals totaling around $3.8 million. The issue stemmed from a bug in the Omni deposit and withdrawal infrastructure, which interacted improperly with the NEAR Intents smart contract.
The team reported, "The preliminary report indicates the total loss of approximately $3.8M. These funds will be compensated in full." They have since patched the flaw and expect to resume operations shortly.
Network Impact and User Options
Although some parts of NEAR Intents resumed service, deposits and withdrawals on 11 networks—including BSC, Polygon, and Avalanche—remained unavailable for about 12 hours while the team completed necessary fixes. Users with assets on those networks can swap their tokens when services resume, though withdrawals to the impacted chains will continue to be paused.
Investigative Actions and Market Response
Following the exploit, on-chain investigator ZachXBT noted that the stolen funds were swiftly moved to KuCoin and subsequently bridged to Bitcoin. The presence of these funds on a centralized exchange may facilitate tracking, as exchanges can freeze accounts and collaborate with law enforcement. NEAR Intents has reported the incident to authorities and is working with security partners to trace the stolen assets, with a detailed report on the situation expected soon.
In the immediate aftermath, the NEAR token experienced a 7.5% drop, reaching a low of $4.76 before showing slight recovery. The loss's manageable size and NEAR Intents' commitment to full compensation helped mitigate broader market repercussions. Users will automatically receive their lost funds, with further details on the compensation process to be outlined in the forthcoming report.
Implications for Web3 Services
As a cross-chain trading protocol, NEAR Intents simplifies asset swaps between different networks. However, this incident highlights the inherent risks associated with cross-chain infrastructure, emphasizing the need for developers to work with reliable partners and for users to maintain limited balances on such platforms. This breach is part of a worrying trend, as other platforms like The Sandbox and Duelbits have also recently reported significant losses due to similar vulnerabilities.