NEAR Intents Loses $3.8 Million in Exploit; NEAR Token Dips 6%

NEAR Intents, a prominent cross-chain trading protocol, suffered a security exploit resulting in approximately $3.8 million in losses, prompting an immediate suspension of services and restrictions on deposits and withdrawals across multiple blockchains. The incident, attributed to a bug in the interaction between its Omni system and smart contract, adds to a string of high-profile crypto security failures this year.

Market Context

The NEAR token (NEAR), the native asset of the blockchain closely associated with the protocol, fell approximately 6% over the past 24 hours at the time of reporting. While the vulnerability was isolated to NEAR Intents' cross-chain infrastructure rather than the underlying NEAR Protocol blockchain, the broader market reaction reflected heightened sensitivity to security risks. This event follows a turbulent period for crypto security, occurring just one week after exchange Bitget suffered an exploit involving over $350 million in stolen assets. Other significant incidents this year include Liquid Network ($320 million), Drift ($295 million), and Kelp ($293 million), according to DefiLlama data.

Analysis

NEAR Intents operates by allowing users to specify swaps without manually selecting bridges or routes, with independent market makers known as 'solvers' competing to execute the trades. The platform has processed more than $30 billion in volume across 35 blockchains, making its reliability critical for cross-chain liquidity. The exploit began with irregular withdrawals from a BNB Chain hot wallet linked to NEAR Intents, as identified by blockchain investigator ZachXBT. The stolen funds were subsequently sent to the crypto exchange KuCoin and converted into Bitcoin (BTC). The project has stated that the contract-side vulnerability has been patched and has pledged to reimburse affected users in full. Law enforcement has been notified, and security firms are engaged to trace the illicit flows.

Key Numbers

- $3.8 million: Estimated total losses from the exploit.

- 6%: Decline in NEAR token price over the past 24 hours.

- $30 billion+: Total trading volume processed by NEAR Intents across 35 blockchains.

- 11 networks: Blockchains affected by the service pause, including BNB Smart Chain, Polygon, TON, Optimism, Avalanche, Stellar, Monad, X Layer, ADI, Scroll, and Plasma.

- $350 million: Losses from the recent Bitget exploit.

- $320 million: Losses from the Liquid Network incident.

- $295 million: Losses from the Drift incident.

- $293 million: Losses from the Kelp incident.

What to Watch

Traders should monitor the NEAR token price as core services are expected to resume quickly, while deposit and withdrawal functions on the affected networks remain unavailable for a longer period to allow for fixes. The outcome of the fund tracing efforts, particularly the movement of assets from KuCoin, will be critical for recovery prospects. Additionally, the cumulative impact of this year’s security breaches—totaling hundreds of millions in losses—may influence institutional confidence in cross-chain infrastructure and DeFi protocols. Investors should watch for official confirmations on reimbursement timelines and any regulatory responses to the repeated security lapses.

The NEAR Intents exploit underscores the persistent fragility of cross-chain interoperability protocols, even those with substantial volume. While the pledge of full reimbursement mitigates immediate user losses, the repeated nature of these hacks suggests systemic risks in smart contract security and bridge infrastructure that may weigh on sector valuations.