NEAR Intents Blocks $50 Million Tied to Bitget’s $388 Million Hack

Near Intents, the cross-chain swap protocol built on the NEAR network, says its SHIELD detection system blocked more than 50 million dollars in attempted transfers linked to last week’s roughly 388 million dollar hack of exchange Bitget, though the figure represents blocked attempts rather than recovered funds.

What happened at Bitget

Bitget disclosed on September 24 that attackers, believed by the exchange’s own leadership to be a North Korea-linked group, bypassed security controls protecting its exchange wallets and made off with close to 388 million dollars in digital assets. Bitget chief executive Gracy Chen has publicly expressed doubt that the full amount will ever be recovered, a sentiment that has largely been borne out by the tracing efforts since.

What Near Intents actually blocked

Near Intents’ SHIELD system detected and blocked more than 50 million dollars in attempted transfers tied to the stolen funds, redirecting those specific attempts away from its own protocol, though the attackers were then able to route many of those blocked attempts to other providers instead. Of the funds that did attempt to move through Near Intents, the protocol managed to freeze about 503,000 dollars during execution, while roughly 166,000 dollars in suspected stolen funds passed through before detection caught up.

The broader recovery picture is bleak

Tether and Circle separately blacklisted a wallet connected to the exploit, freezing 318,013 dollars combined in USDT and USDC. Added together, less than 503,000 dollars of the original 387.5 million dollars stolen has been frozen anywhere in the world as of this writing, meaning the overwhelming majority of the stolen funds are considered effectively unrecoverable at this stage.

Why this tests the permissionless claim

Near Intents has generally marketed itself around permissionless, censorship-resistant cross-chain swaps, so its decision to actively block and freeze specific transactions tied to stolen funds puts that positioning to a real test. The protocol’s response suggests that even nominally permissionless infrastructure is willing to build in targeted intervention capability for clearly identified criminal proceeds, a tension that is likely to keep coming up as more cross-chain protocols face similar situations involving major exchange hacks.

Frequently asked questions

Has Bitget resumed normal operations? Reporting indicates Ethereum withdrawals have resumed at Bitget following the incident, though the exchange continues dealing with the fallout from the breach.

Is the 50 million dollar figure money that was recovered for victims? No, it represents attempted transfers that were blocked or redirected, not funds that have been returned to Bitget or affected users.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Details of ongoing security incidents can change as investigations continue.