NEAR Recovers Stolen Funds Ahead of Token2049 Conference

NEAR Protocol has recovered $3.8 million stolen in a recent exploit, with the attacker returning the full amount after being identified by the team. The incident, which occurred on October 1, targeted NEAR Intents, a system designed to simplify cross-chain transactions. The vulnerability was quickly patched, and the team assured affected users would be fully compensated.

The recovery comes as NEAR prepares for Token2049 in Singapore, where co-founder Illia Polosukhin will discuss AI and finance. This event provides an opportunity to highlight NEAR's push into cross-chain trading and AI infrastructure. The network has positioned NEAR Intents and NEAR AI as key parts of its strategy, focusing on cross-chain execution and private AI infrastructure.

The NEAR token gained 8.1% following the recovery, reducing immediate financial uncertainty. However, the incident underscores the need for a detailed post-mortem to understand how the vulnerability occurred. The broader test for NEAR will be whether it can convert the attention around Intents and AI into sustained usage and developer adoption.

NEAR Intents has processed over $30 billion in cumulative volume across more than 30 blockchains. It recently blocked a roughly $50 million swap attempt linked to the Bitget hacker, demonstrating its ability to identify and restrict suspicious cross-chain activity. The network's developer infrastructure now combines chain abstraction, cross-chain execution, and AI-focused tooling.