NEAR Intents Halts Cross-Chain Swaps After $3.8M Security Incident

NEAR Intents, a DeFi platform that enables cross-chain swaps, has temporarily halted its services after a security incident resulted in an estimated $3.8 million loss. The bug, which occurred in the interaction between the Omni deposit and withdrawal infrastructure and the NEAR Intents smart contract, has been patched, but deposits and withdrawals on several networks remain unavailable. NEAR Intents has reported the incident to law enforcement and is working with security firms to trace the stolen funds, which were reportedly sent to KuCoin and bridged into Bitcoin.

The platform, which has processed over $30 billion in volume across 35 blockchains, has promised to reimburse affected users in full. The incident highlights the security risks associated with cross-chain transactions, which have become increasingly popular in the crypto space.

NEAR, the native token of the blockchain closely associated with NEAR Intents, fell around 6% over the prior 24 hours following the disclosure. The incident follows a string of high-profile hacks and exploits in the sector, including a recent attack on exchange Bitget that resulted in over $350 million in stolen assets.