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NEAR Intents Confirms $3.8 Million Exploit After Omni Infrastructure Bug
Cross-chain withdrawals remain restricted as protocol pledges full compensation and traces stolen Bitcoin
TL;DR
- NEAR Intents confirmed on October 1, 2026, that an Omni infrastructure integration bug enabled a $3.8 million exploit.
- The protocol patched the flaw, kept deposits and withdrawals on 11 networks suspended, and pledged to compensate affected users in full.
- The incident came two days after NEAR Intents blocked a $50 million swap linked to the Bitget hacker, though no connection between the events was established.
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NEAR Intents confirmed on October 1, 2026, that an attacker drained about $3.8 million after exploiting a bug involving its smart contract and Omni’s deposit, withdrawal and custody infrastructure. The cross-chain protocol halted services, patched the vulnerability and began working with law enforcement and blockchain analytics partners to trace the stolen funds.
“Earlier today NEAR Intents services were stopped after a security incident was detected. The incident was caused by a bug in the Omni deposit and withdrawal infrastructure interaction with NEAR Intents smart contract,” the NEAR Intents team said.
The vulnerability allowed unauthorized withdrawals from the platform’s hot wallet on BNB Chain. The stolen assets were transferred to KuCoin and then moved into Bitcoin through cross-chain bridges. On-chain investigator ZachXBT separately traced the funds to KuCoin and their subsequent movement into Bitcoin.
“The incident has been reported to law enforcement, and we are working with security and blockchain analytics partners to trace the funds and pursue recovery,” NEAR Intents said.
NEAR Intents Freezes Cross-Chain Deposits and Withdrawals
NEAR Intents said the smart-contract flaw had been fixed and expected its main site and basic services to return within about one hour. Deposits and withdrawals across 11 blockchains were set to remain suspended for roughly another 12 hours while Omni completed additional fixes.
Polygon, TON, Optimism, Avalanche, BNB Chain and Scroll were among the affected networks.
NEAR Intents said its treasury would cover user losses. The protocol said the stolen funds “will be compensated in full,” while assets remaining inside the system, including assets held in its hot wallet, could be converted once services resumed.
The protocol also said it planned to publish a more detailed incident report in the coming days.
NEAR Intents uses an “intents” model that allows users to specify the outcome they want while underlying infrastructure handles tasks such as selecting networks, finding bridges and calculating gas fees. The protocol had processed more than $30 billion in swaps across 35 blockchains before the incident.
The exploit occurred at the integration layer connecting that system with Omni’s custody infrastructure. The incident followed previous bridge-related attacks across the crypto sector, including the Harmony bridge exploit in 2022, when about $100 million was lost.
Exploit Follows $50 Million Bitget Hacker Block
The breach came two days after NEAR Intents blocked a $50 million swap attempt associated with the hacker behind a separate attack on Bitget.
That hacker had stolen approximately $387.5 million from the exchange the previous week. Bitget CEO Gracy Chen and blockchain analytics firm Elliptic pointed to North Korea as the likely culprit in the Bitget attack, citing tell-tale signs, though that attribution had not been confirmed.
No link was established between the Bitget hacker and the $3.8 million NEAR Intents exploit, and the relationship between the two incidents remained explicitly unresolved.
The timing also followed the launch of Bitwise’s Near ETF two days earlier. Bitwise first filed paperwork for the fund in April 2025, when NEAR traded at $2.61.
NEAR price readings varied during the October 1 selloff as the market moved rapidly around the disclosure.
This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.
