Key highlights:
- NEAR Intent halted services after detecting a major security incident.
- The incident affected major networks like BNB Chain, Polygon, TON, Optimism, etc.
- The team has assured that the lost funds will be fully reimbursed.
The latest reports unveil a fresh crypto hack that drained around $3.8 million. NEAR Intents has reportedly suffered a security exploit, leading to the platform’s temporary halt of services. The platform has also paused its deposits and withdrawals across several supported networks. Currently, the team is working to secure the system and restore normal operations.
NEAR Intents halts services after $3.8M exploit
On October 1, 2026, NEAR Intents paused its services following a significant security incident that resulted in a loss of around $3.8 million. As noted by the platform, the issue was caused by a bug involving its Omni deposit and withdrawal infrastructure and the NEAR Intents smart contract. The issue allowed the attacker to exploit the way these systems interacted, and thus drained millions of funds from the platform.
After detecting the incident, NEAR Intents stopped its services. Later, as per the company’s confirmation, the contract-side issue has been patched. The team also assured that the affected funds will be fully reimbursed.
Notably, blockchain sleuth ZachXBT flagged the NEAR Intent security incident initially. The investigator reported that several unusual withdrawals came from a NEAR Intents-linked hot wallet on BNB Chain. According to ZachXBT, the attacker moved the stolen funds to KuCoin, a prominent crypto exchange. Later, they converted the funds into Bitcoin. At the time, NEAR Intents stated that the team was working with security and blockchain analytics firms to track the funds.
Networks like BNB Chain, Polygon, TON, Optimism, Avalanche, Stellar, Monad, X Layer, ADI, Scroll, and Plasma have been affected by the incident. While NEAR Intent has temporarily restricted services, the team is getting more time to secure the affected infrastructure.
Customer funds will be fully reimbursed
However, it is reassuring that the latest incident hasn’t indicated any compromise of the underlying NEAR Protocol blockchain. Instead, it has only affected NEAR Intents’ cross-chain infrastructure. It is also a positive development that the team is now actively working to restore the affected services and bring deposits and withdrawals back online.
The team stated that users who already have tokens from the affected networks inside NEAR Intents could still swap them for other supported tokens once the swapping services restart. They also added that the lost funds will be fully reimbursed later.
NEAR Intents Hack Adds to Rising Crypto Security Concerns
It is worth noting that the NEAR Intents security issue comes on the heels of several similar incidents. As CoinCodex reported, 2026 has witnessed a number of major crypto hacks that drained millions of customer funds. It is also concerning that the NEAR Intents issue comes hot on the heels of the MetaMask incident reported by CoinCodex on October 1.
Similarly, crypto exchange Bitget suffered a $350 million exploit last week. Another example is the Liquid Network exploit, which involved about $320 million in losses. Drift and Kelp also faced similar attacks, resulting in losses of about $295 million and $293 million, respectively.
Source:: NEAR Intents Hit by $3.8M Security Incident, Services Halted