NEAR Intents Hack: Culprit Identified After $3.8M Breach
NEAR Intents has announced the successful identification of the individual responsible for exfiltrating approximately $3.8 million from its infrastructure. The suspected perpetrator has been granted a 48-hour window to restitute the funds, though their identity currently remains undisclosed.
The cyberattack commenced on September 30 with two minor exploratory transactions. Subsequently, within a matter of hours, approximately 3.86 million USDT was drained from the NEAR Intents vault on the BNB Chain. This breach was precipitated by a critical vulnerability located at the intersection of the Omni infrastructure and the NEAR Intents smart contract.
Tracing the Stolen Cryptocurrency
Blockchain analysts have meticulously traced the vast majority of the misappropriated funds. The assailant converted approximately 76% of the sum into 34.69 BTC, while roughly $802,000 was routed to KuCoin addresses. Ironically, the attacker managed to launder a portion of the stolen assets utilizing the NEAR Intents platform itself.
Upon detecting the intrusion, the team immediately curtailed operations across multiple networks and successfully remediated the vulnerability. Project representatives affirmed that the foundational NEAR protocol remained completely impervious and guaranteed comprehensive compensation for all user losses. Such vulnerabilities within blockchain bridges are exceptionally perilous, as they inextricably link multiple networks and smart contracts simultaneously.
The 48-Hour Ultimatum
On October 2, NEAR Intents CEO Alex Shevchenko publicly articulated that the team had conclusively identified the suspected perpetrator. They issued a firm ultimatum, offering a 48-hour grace period for the voluntary return of the assets. Previously, a comparable strategy was employed by CrossCurve, which provided its assailants a 72-hour window to surrender stolen cryptocurrency.
NEAR Intents officially corroborated the incident and has escalated the matter to relevant law enforcement agencies. Furthermore, the team has enlisted elite blockchain analytics specialists and pledged to publish an exhaustive technical post-mortem of the attack in due course.
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