NEAR Intents says it has recovered the full amount stolen in a security breach after the individual it identified as responsible was given 48 hours to return the funds.
Funds returned in full
The crypto platform said approximately $3.8 million in user funds was taken during a security incident on Thursday. The money was returned later on Friday, according to an announcement from NEAR Intents general manager Alex Shevchenko.
“The funds from the $3.8M NEAR Intents hack were sent back in full,” Shevchenko wrote on X. He added that the investigation was being stopped and urged potential security researchers to use bug bounty programs rather than disrupt live services.
The recovery followed an ultimatum reported by Cointelegraph. After identifying the person it believed was behind the incident, NEAR Intents gave the individual 48 hours to return the assets under a responsible-disclosure approach. Responsible disclosure generally gives a party accused of exploiting a vulnerability an opportunity to return funds or report the flaw before further action is taken.
What caused the incident
NEAR Intents paused its services after detecting what it described as a bug involving the interaction between its Omni deposit and withdrawal infrastructure and a NEAR Intents smart contract. Smart contracts are blockchain-based programs that automatically execute transactions when specified conditions are met.
A preliminary investigation concluded that about $3.8 million had been stolen. Before the funds were recovered, NEAR Intents had pledged to compensate affected users in full. The company’s latest announcement indicates that the stolen amount was returned, but the source material does not provide further details about how the repayment was made or whether services had fully resumed.
Blockchain investigator ZachXBT said the funds connected with the incident had been moved to the KuCoin exchange and then bridged to Bitcoin. The report does not state whether those transfers were reversed or describe the identity of the person involved.
Market picture
Moneyiar market data at 2026-10-05 09:43 +03:30 showed NEAR Protocol trading at $5.0257894214. The token was up 5.21% over 24 hours but down 0.12% over seven days.
For comparison, Plasma (XPL) was priced at $0.0953958683, up 0.1% in 24 hours and down 4.64% over seven days. Espresso (ESP) stood at $0.1107291788, gaining 0.64% over 24 hours and 13.16% over seven days, based on Moneyiar data at 2026-10-05 09:44 +03:30.
The recovery closes the immediate loss described by NEAR Intents, while the incident highlights the operational risks that can arise when deposit and withdrawal systems interact with blockchain smart contracts. The platform’s call for the use of bug bounties points to its stated preference for reporting vulnerabilities through formal channels rather than exploiting them.
