NEAR Intents identifies individual behind $3.8M security breach, demands return within 48 hours

NEAR Intents said it has identified the individual behind a security breach that resulted in the loss of $3.8 million in user funds on Thursday, giving them 48 hours to return the funds under “responsible disclosure.”

“We have identified you, sir,” NEAR Intents general manager Alex Shevchenko said in an X post on Friday, as he shared three different wallet addresses to receive Bitcoin, BNB and Solana.

“You know better than most how responsible disclosure works — this is the last window to use it. After 48 hours, that window closes.”

On Thursday, NEAR Intent paused services after detecting a “bug in the Omni deposit and withdrawal infrastructure interaction with NEAR Intents smart contract.”

Its preliminary investigation found that $3.8 million in user funds was stolen, and it pledged to compensate affected users in full.

Blockchain investigator ZachXBT said the funds from the incident were transferred to the KuCoin exchange and bridged to Bitcoin.