NEAR Intents Restored After $3.8M USDT Exploit

| crypto.news
NEAR Intents has resumed operations after a security exploit caused about $3.8 million in losses involving USDT on BNB Smart Chain (BSC). The attacker exploited a vulnerability in the interaction between Omni’s deposit and withdrawal infrastructure and the NEAR Intents smart contract. NEAR co-founder Illia Polosukhin said the platform’s SHIELD system detected abnormal activity and triggered a temporary shutdown. The vulnerability was identified and fixed within an hour. NEAR Intents and near.com are now online, although some network connections remain restricted. Affected users are promised full compensation. The NEAR Protocol, NEAR token and other NEAR-based applications were not affected. NEAR Intents processes more than $4 billion in monthly trading and payments volume, making the incident relevant to crypto trading infrastructure and cross-chain security. NEAR plans to publish a postmortem and add safeguards, including formal verification for NEAR smart contracts. Traders should monitor USDT liquidity on BSC, affected wallet activity, platform restrictions and any compensation-related selling pressure. The exploit directly involved BSC-based USDT rather than the NEAR blockchain or NEAR token.
Neutral
The direct price impact on NEAR is expected to be neutral. The exploit involved USDT on BNB Smart Chain and a vulnerability linking Omni infrastructure with NEAR Intents, rather than the NEAR Protocol or NEAR token. The rapid shutdown, one-hour remediation and promise of full compensation may limit immediate contagion and reduce the risk of sustained selling in NEAR. Short term, traders may still apply a modest risk discount to NEAR because the incident highlights security weaknesses in cross-chain trading infrastructure. Temporary restrictions, compensation-related transactions or renewed wallet activity could create volatility. However, the restoration of NEAR Intents and the absence of a direct protocol failure are likely to offset much of that pressure. Long term, the planned postmortem and formal verification could strengthen confidence if implemented effectively, although any further exploit or delayed compensation could turn sentiment bearish.