Cross-chain router pauses deposits after $3.8M exploit

TLDR

Cross-chain protocol NEAR Intents paused deposits and withdrawals after a bug let an attacker steal about $3.8 million, then pledged to reimburse users and began restoring service.

1. NEAR Intents says a smart contract bug in its Omni deposit and withdrawal layer enabled the theft, with funds traced to KuCoin and then bridged to Bitcoin.
2. Services on 11 connected networks are temporarily paused while fixes are applied, with NEAR Intents promising full compensation but not yet giving a detailed reimbursement timetable.
3. The incident reinforces that cross-chain routers are high-value targets, so users should watch the postmortem, reimbursement progress, and any security upgrades before relying heavily on similar systems.

Deep Dive

1. How The Exploit Happened

NEAR Intents, a cross-chain trading system linked to NEAR Protocol (NEAR), reported that about $3.8 million was stolen via a bug in how its Omni deposit and withdrawal infrastructure interacted with its main smart contract, prompting an immediate halt to services and a pause on deposits and withdrawals across several networks. Reports say irregular outflows from a BNB Chain hot wallet were seen before the stolen assets were sent to KuCoin and bridged into Bitcoin, and the team has notified law enforcement and hired security and analytics firms to pursue recovery. Multiple outlets confirm the vulnerability has been patched and that core swap services on NEAR Intents and near.com were expected to resume relatively quickly, though the exploit affected the router infrastructure rather than the underlying NEAR blockchain itself.

Confidence: high, based on consistent reporting from several independent news desks and the projects own statement.

2. User Impact And Market Reaction

According to project statements and follow-up coverage, NEAR Intents has pledged to fully reimburse the approximately $3.8 million lost, funded from its treasury, but has not yet provided a precise reimbursement schedule. Deposits and withdrawals involving 11 networks including BNB Chain, Polygon, TON, ethereum/">Optimism, Avalanche, Stellar, Monad, X Layer, Adi, Scroll and Plasma are expected to remain paused for around 12 hours while Omnis systems are repaired, though users can resume some swapping once core services are back online. NEAR, the associated token, dropped roughly 79 percent in the wake of the announcement, but reporting stresses that the bug sits in cross-chain infrastructure rather than in the NEAR base layer, highlighting integration risk more than a consensus failure.

3. What To Watch Next For Cross-Chain Users

The team says it will publish a detailed public report on the incident and is working with auditors and blockchain investigators, with NEAR cofounder Illia Polosukhin indicating plans for tighter security standards and more formal verification of contracts going forward. Key milestones to watch are full restoration of deposits and withdrawals across all affected networks, concrete confirmation that reimbursements are processed as promised, and any cooperation from KuCoin on freezing or returning funds that reached its platform. For the wider market, this exploit adds to a pattern of attacks on bridges and cross-chain routers, so future design changes that reduce hot-wallet exposure or simplify intent routing could materially change risk for users who operate across many chains.

Conclusion

NEAR Intents $3.8 million exploit shows that the most fragile parts of multi-chain trading are often the integration layers that hold pooled funds, not the base chains themselves. Until the postmortem and security upgrades land, cross-chain users are best served by treating routers as critical infrastructure whose reliability and pause risk deserve as much attention as token prices or yields.