NEAR Intents recovers $3.8 million after exploit, returns funds in full

The cross-chain protocol NEAR Intents has successfully recovered $3.8 million in USDT drained during a smart contract exploit on BNB Chain. Following a 48-hour ultimatum issued by General Manager Alex Shevchenko on October 2, 2026, the suspected attacker returned the funds in full, including approximately 34.59 BTC to the protocol's recovery wallet. NEAR Intents patched the vulnerability, resolved a 12-hour pause across 11 networks, and committed to fully compensating affected users.

Recovery of the exploited funds

• ▪NEAR Intents' published Bitcoin recovery wallet received approximately 34.59 BTC as part of the $3.8 million returned after a smart contract exploit on BNB Chain
• ▪A suspected exploiter behind the BNB Chain exploit returned the full $3.8 million in USDT drained from the NEAR Intents cross-chain trading and settlement protocol, leading the protocol to close its investigation on October 4, 2026

Protocol response and network pauses

• ▪NEAR Intents paused deposits and withdrawals on 11 networks, including BSC and Polygon, for approximately 12 hours to repair infrastructure affected by the BNB Chain exploit before resuming operations
• ▪The NEAR Intents exploit on September 30-October 1, 2026 highlights cross-chain vulnerabilities, as a single bug in a BNB Chain treasury contract required a follow-up pause covering 11 connected networks

Bitget hack intervention

• ▪NEAR Intents reportedly stopped nearly $50 million from a hack of the Bitget exchange
• ▪Days before NEAR Intents' BNB Chain exploit, NEAR Intents blocked fund transfers linked to a separate hack of the Bitget exchange, freezing $503,000 in attempted transactions

Debatable claims

• ▪DeFi protocols are justified in freezing transactions linked to external hacks
• ▪Emergency multi-chain pauses by DeFi protocols do more harm than good
• ▪DeFi protocols bear full responsibility for compensating users hit by exploits
• ▪Crypto protocols should prosecute exploiters even if they return stolen funds