A bug in NEAR Intents’ Omni system let hackers drain roughly $3.8 million from the cross-chain trading platform, the company confirmed Thursday. The project said the vulnerability had been fixed and that it would fully reimburse affected funds.
The exploit hit deposits and withdrawals across several blockchains, forcing NEAR Intents to pause services and restrict transactions temporarily. The company reported the incident to law enforcement and brought in security and blockchain analytics firms to trace the stolen funds.
How the exploit worked
The problem sat at the intersection of two parts of NEAR Intents’ system. The Omni deposit and withdrawal system interacted with the NEAR Intents smart contract in a way that exposed a vulnerability. Once the flaw was found, the contract-side issue was patched, and NEAR Intents said it would make whole anyone who lost money.
The fix took care of the contract. The damage was already done.
What NEAR Intents does
NEAR Intents is built to simplify cross-chain trading. Users pick the swap they want, and independent market makers, known as solvers, compete to complete it behind the scenes. The platform’s website says it has processed more than $30 billion in volume across 35 blockchains.
A single vulnerability in the Omni system touched multiple networks at once, and the consequences spread fast.
The stolen funds
Blockchain investigator ZachXBT said the exploit began with irregular withdrawals from a BNB Chain hot wallet linked to NEAR Intents. From there, the stolen funds were sent to crypto exchange KuCoin and converted into bitcoin.
The tracing effort is ongoing. Security and blockchain analytics firms are working to follow the trail of the funds, though NEAR Intents has not yet detailed what happens next beyond the reimbursement pledge.
A rough year for crypto security
This exploit lands on top of a year already defined by major losses. Just last week, exchange Bitget suffered an exploit that resulted in over $350 million in stolen assets. Other major incidents included Liquid Network at about $320 million, Drift at $295 million and Kelp at $293 million, according to DefiLlama data.
The pattern is familiar by now: a project announces a vulnerability, services are paused, and users wait to see whether the losses are covered. The difference here is the scale. NEAR Intents is a cross-chain platform with exposure across multiple networks, and the Omni system failure hit all of them at once.
Which networks were affected
NEAR Intents’ status page showed issues affecting BNB Smart Chain, Polygon, TON, Optimism, Avalanche, Stellar, Monad, X Layer, ADI, Scroll and Plasma. Deposits and withdrawals on several networks were set to remain unavailable for longer while fixes were completed.
The platform expected core services to resume quickly, but the recovery timeline for those networks depends on the completion of fixes. That means some users may find their transactions restricted until the underlying problems are resolved.
The stakes for cross-chain trading
Cross-chain platforms sit at the center of DeFi. They connect networks that otherwise operate in isolation, letting users move value from one chain to another without trusting a centralized exchange. That architecture also exposes new attack surfaces.
The Omni system was supposed to handle deposits and withdrawals across multiple networks. Instead it became the path through which funds were drained. The patch closes the door, but the breach already happened.
What happens next
NEAR Intents said it will reimburse affected funds in full. That pledge stands even as the investigation continues.
The company is working with security and blockchain analytics firms to trace the funds. ZachXBT’s account of the BNB Chain hot wallet withdrawals offers a starting point, but the full picture of how the stolen funds moved remains incomplete.
For users, the immediate concern is whether their funds are safe. The platform has paused services and restricted transactions on several networks, which means some users may find their transactions restricted until the fixes are completed.
The bigger picture
The NEAR Intents exploit adds to a string of losses that have reshaped how the industry thinks about security. Each incident raises the cost of failure, and each one pushes projects to patch faster and disclose more.
“The stolen funds were then sent to crypto exchange KuCoin and converted into bitcoin.”
The trend is not reassuring. The losses keep coming, and the sums keep growing.
The takeaway
NEAR Intents acted quickly on Thursday. The company reported the incident to law enforcement, traced the funds, patched the vulnerability and pledged to cover the losses. That is the right sequence for a company facing a serious security breakdown.
But the fact remains: another $3.8 million was lost in a year that has already produced over $350 million in theft from Bitget, $320 million from Liquid Network, $295 million from Drift and $293 million from Kelp. The industry is moving toward regulation, but the pace of exploitation shows no sign of slowing.
The cross-chain space is still young, and the stakes are getting higher with every bridge built. NEAR Intents is a reminder that the architecture of trust is fragile, and that one faulty line of code can undo millions of dollars of value in minutes. The platform has promised to make things right, but the damage is done.
Source material: “NEAR Intents hit by $3.8 million exploit as crypto's rough year of hacks continues,” CoinDesk.
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