Near Intents recovered $3.8M stolen in a Thursday exploit after issuing a 48-hour ultimatum to the identified attacker.
Security & Exploits ·
Near Intents, a cross-chain swap service, announced Friday that the full $3.8 million extracted through an exploit occurring the previous day had been restored. The recovery followed a public message from general manager Alex Shevchenko on Thursday in which he directly addressed the attacker, stating the team had identified them, and provided a 48-hour window to voluntarily return the assets before further action.
The funds were siphoned due to a flaw in how the platform's Omni deposit and withdrawal layer communicated with its core smart contract. An on-chain message attributed to the attacker acknowledged wrongdoing and encouraged the use of bug bounty programs rather than direct exploitation. Shevchenko confirmed the investigation had concluded following the full restitution.
The incident represented a significant but ultimately resolved security event for Near Intents, which facilitates token swaps across 35 blockchains. The timeline—from exploit to full recovery within roughly a day—remains unusual, though the attacker's motivations for compliance and whether any additional forensic details or public incident report will be released remain unclear.