NEAR Intents Gives Hacker 48 Hours to Return $3.8M
NEAR Intents identified the attacker behind a security breach that stole about $3.8 million in user funds. The exploit involved a flaw in the interaction between Omni’s deposit and withdrawal infrastructure and NEAR Intents smart contracts. The platform suspended services and pledged to fully reimburse affected users. General manager Alex Shevchenko gave the attacker 48 hours to return the assets under a responsible-disclosure arrangement. Blockchain investigator ZachXBT said the funds moved through KuCoin before being bridged into Bitcoin. The incident is a short-term negative risk for NEAR trading sentiment, although reimbursement or fund recovery could reduce longer-term damage to confidence in NEAR Intents.
Bearish
The immediate market impact is bearish for NEAR because the breach exposes smart-contract and cross-chain infrastructure risks linked to the NEAR Intents ecosystem. Service suspension, stolen funds and the movement of assets through an exchange may increase selling pressure and discourage short-term trading activity. Traders may also apply a security-risk discount to NEAR until the investigation and recovery process are resolved. The full-compensation pledge and the 48-hour recovery window could limit the damage if funds are returned or users are reimbursed. However, these measures are unlikely to remove the near-term uncertainty, so the direct price outlook for NEAR remains negative. Longer term, successful compensation, stronger security controls and a clear post-incident review could help restore confidence.