Cross-chain trading protocol NEAR Intents has intercepted more than $50 million in illicit fund transfers linked to the recent cyberattack on crypto exchange Bitget. During transaction execution, the protocol intervened to freeze $503,000, preventing attackers from routing the capital through automated laundering pipelines. Furthermore, the NEAR Intents development team waived all bounty claims associated with the asset recovery to help the affected exchange preserve funds.
Shield Framework and Illicit Flow Detection
Alex Shevchenko, co-founder and CEO of Aurora Labs, explained that the SHIELD infrastructure processes over $100 million in daily cross-chain trading volume. The system combines intelligence feeds from know-your-transaction monitoring providers, independent researchers, and industry collaborators to detect and restrict suspicious transfers in real time.
When applied to the Bitget incident, the screening architecture flagged more than $50 million in laundering routes, successfully barring most of the flagged capital from crossing the protocol. The $503,000 stopped during execution remains under restriction while Bitget coordinates formal recovery and legal proceedings. However, an estimated $166,000 managed to bypass the safeguards and exit the protocol.
Stance on Property Rights and Waived Bounties
NEAR Intents declined to collect any bounty payout offered by Bitget for recovering stolen assets, opting instead to leave the entire recovered sum with the exchange. The team articulated a clear industry philosophy regarding the decision, stating that the cryptocurrency ecosystem cannot reasonably seek formal digital property rights while simultaneously maintaining infrastructure that makes it convenient to monetize stolen assets.
Bitget CEO Gracy Chen publicly acknowledged the intervention, thanking NEAR Intents and the SHIELD team for detecting the laundering attempts, locking down illicit capital, and waiving their entitled share of the bounty reward.
Onchain Asset Tracking and Historical Links
Onchain researcher ZachXBT monitored the movement of the compromised funds, observing that the malicious actors routed capital across multiple blockchain networks using cross-chain bridges before routing deposits into mixing services, including Wasabi.
ZachXBT also linked the operation to historical breaches, stating that an entity referenced as 'Alias 4' had been identified previously laundering assets connected to the $292 million exploit of Kelp DAO. In the Bitget breach, the laundering push emerged after an unauthorized intrusion drained approximately $387.5 million from the exchange's hot and warm wallets on Thursday.
User Protection Measures and Partial Withdrawals
Bitget confirmed that its cold storage infrastructure and standalone self-custodial wallet products remained entirely untouched by the breach. The exchange committed to covering all verified customer losses through its dedicated User Protection Fund. Following the incident, the platform initiated a phased resumption of platform withdrawals, beginning with Bitcoin.
NEAR Price Behavior and Broader Market Context
Despite the successful operational intervention, NEAR pulled back approximately 10% across the prior 24 hours to trade around $4.83. The decline follows a multi-week rally, with the token remaining up 12% over the last seven days and 150% over the trailing month. Momentum gauges such as the 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) and the Stochastic Oscillator have cooled from overbought conditions. On the downside, NEAR faces technical support at $4.39, followed by the 20-day EMA at $3.95 and further support at $3.45. Upside resistance remains situated at $5.86 and $7.31.
Across the wider cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin was changing hands at $83,089, declining 1.62% from its prior close of $84,458, within a 52-week band of $57,748 to $92,798. Live market data shows Bitcoin's 14-day RSI at 59, with the MACD line at 2276.07 against a signal line of 2228.42, alongside a 20-day EMA of $81,554 and a 50-day EMA of $77,279. Meanwhile, XRP traded below $1.50 despite $76 million in weekly inflows into US-listed spot XRP ETFs. Pi Network slipped below $0.090 ahead of its scheduled Protocol 28 upgrade on October 16, and Ethereum traded below $2,650 as market momentum moderated.
