$50 million in Bitget hacker swaps puts NEAR Intents’ ‘permissionless’ claim to the test

The attackers who siphoned off $388 million from Bitget exchange last week tried to move more than $50 million through NEAR Intents, a service that lets users exchange assets across different blockchains, according to a report by NEAR Intent’s general manager, Alex Shevchenko.

The protocol’s “SHIELD” system blocked most transfers and froze $503,000 midway through the transaction, taking a different approach from THORChain, which has resisted the exchange’s request to block attacker addresses.

About $166,000 passed through, while the restricted funds await a legal and recovery process, he said. The larger figure represents attempted transfers rather than money recovered.

Shevchenko said duplicate attempts had been removed from the tally and rejected funds subsequently went to other providers. The figures are estimates, however, and could differ from the actual amounts by up to roughly 10%.