NEAR Intents Pauses Services After $3.8M Bug, Stolen Funds Hit Bitcoin Fast

NEAR Intents has halted parts of its service after a bug in its Omni deposit and withdrawal infrastructure drained an estimated $3.8 million. The team says users will not be left holding the bag and that every dollar lost will be compensated.

The more worrying detail is how fast the money moved. Onchain investigator ZachXBT reported that the funds left almost immediately, with a first leg heading toward Kucoin and a second route crossing a bridge into Bitcoin. Converting to Bitcoin that quickly is a familiar pattern after exploits, since it makes recovery harder and clouds the trail across chains.

Several networks supported by the platform remain temporarily cut off while the team investigates. NEAR Intents has not given a timeline for when deposits and withdrawals on those networks will return. Cross-chain products tend to restart cautiously after an incident like this, because the same infrastructure usually touches multiple chains at once.

The incident is a reminder of the risk in intent-based and cross-chain systems. They promise a smooth experience where users state what they want and solvers handle the routing, but that convenience depends on deposit and withdrawal plumbing that spans many networks. A flaw in that layer can be exploited faster than a team can react, as the speed of this outflow shows.

For now, the compensation pledge is the main reassurance. Users will be watching for details on how and when reimbursements are handled, what exactly went wrong in the Omni component, and whether any of the stolen assets can be frozen at the exchange level. Kucoin appearing in the early flow of funds could give investigators a possible point of contact, though the quick hop into Bitcoin may limit what can be done.