NEAR Intents Says It Blocked $50M Linked to Bitget Hackers

NEAR Intents says its screening system stopped more than $50 million in transfers tied to the Bitget hack, taking a different stance than THORChain on stopping stolen funds.

How NEAR Intents Blocked the Stolen Funds

Alex Shevchenko, general manager of NEAR Intents, said a large share of the $387.5 million stolen from Bitget last Thursday moved across chains to Ethereum. He said the protocol’s SHIELD system detected and blocked over $50 million in attempted transfers, which then went to other providers. It froze $503,000 during execution, while about $166,000 in suspected stolen funds got through.

NEAR Intents Forgoes Bitget’s Bounty

NEAR Intents said it will skip the 5% bounty Bitget offered for freezing attacker funds, plus another 5% for recovery, so more money can go back to the exchange. Shevchenko said frozen funds would be returned through proper legal process.

THORChain vs NEAR Intents on Blocking Transactions

Shevchenko argued permissionless systems don’t have to be neutral, saying refusing to help launder stolen assets is a deliberate choice his protocol makes. He said a system where theft grants an unrestricted right to monetize an asset protects thieves rather than markets. THORChain, however, has said it doesn’t censor by design and that past network halts were emergency measures affecting the whole protocol, not a selective freeze of specific funds.

Circle and Tether blacklisted a wallet linked to the Bitget exploiter on Friday, freezing $318,013 in USDT and USDC. Bitget CEO Gracy Chen has separately urged THORChain to block addresses tied to the attack.