The Incident
NEAR Intents, a popular tool for private cross-chain swaps that has moved over $30 billion across 35 networks, went dark on Thursday. The platform suffered a $3.8 million exploit due to a vulnerability in the layer managing fund transfers to the main contract. On-chain sleuth ZachXBT tracked the stolen loot to the KuCoin exchange, where it was swapped into Bitcoin.
The Recovery
The response to the hack was fast—lowkey, it’s giving professional. The team patched the contract hole and restored core services in about an hour. While deposits and withdrawals on 11 networks, including Polygon, Optimism, and BNB Chain, remained offline for about 12 hours, the platform has officially promised that all affected users will be made whole. No cap, that's a rare level of accountability in this space.
Market Impact
The news didn't sit well with the charts. NEAR dipped nearly 9% to $4.86, and the newly launched Bitwise NEAR ETF took a 7% hit—a rough welcome to the market for a fund that launched just two days prior.
Why it matters
Real talk: hacks are always a L for the ecosystem, but this one is being viewed by some as "bullish" due to the team’s transparent, rapid-fire response compared to other platform disasters. While this isn't financial advice and the vibes are still volatile, the swift remediation and commitment to reimbursing users suggests a level of maturity that isn't always common when things go sideways. The team is currently working with law enforcement and promises a full report soon.
