NEAR Intents Hacker Returns $3.8 Million Before Deadline

In a swift turn of events, the hacker responsible for the NEAR Intents breach returned the entire $3.8 million stolen on October 1, 2026. The funds were restored before the 48-hour deadline set by Alex Shevchenko, CEO of NEAR Intents, who announced the development on X. Shevchenko claimed the attacker had been identified, though no further details were disclosed.

The theft occurred between the night of September 30 and October 1, with 3,865,000 USDT withdrawn in five transactions from a NEAR Intents vault on BNB Chain. By October 1, 76% of the stolen funds had been converted into 34.69 BTC, while 21% reached KuCoin deposit addresses, according to Bitquery.

NEAR Intents attributed the breach to a bug in the interaction between its Omni layer and the main smart contract. The service suspended operations, promised full compensation, and alerted authorities. A technical report on the incident was promised but had not been published at the time of the article.

The reason for the hacker's change of heart remains unclear. The attacker allegedly acknowledged wrongdoing in a transaction message and suggested using bug bounty programs. No public evidence links this hack to the September 24 Bitget hack, which involved $387.5 million in stolen funds.