NEAR Intents Exploited for $3.8M, Promises Full Compensation

NEAR Intents, a platform that connects over 30 blockchains, resumed service after a $3.8 million exploit on October 1. According to co-founder Illia Polosukhin, the team temporarily paused the service when its SHIELD security system detected unusual activity.

The vulnerability involved the interaction between Omni's deposit and withdrawal infrastructure and the NEAR Intents smart contract. Polosukhin said the loss was $3.8 million, with $USDT on BSC affected. He promised full compensation for affected users.

SHIELD, the AI security layer on Intents, detected outlier behavior and halted the activity. The team identified the exact vulnerability and fixed it within an hour of detection.

Polosukhin emphasized the importance of stronger contract standards, monitoring, and preventive measures, citing recent attacks targeting Bitget, MetaMask, and Lido. He said criminals are using AI systems to probe infrastructure.

The incident is the first major exploit on Intents, and the team will conduct a full review and postmortem. Polosukhin also invited additional partners to share information and help identify and contain criminal activity.