NEAR Intents’ SHIELD risk layer blocked over $50M in stolen Bitget funds, earning praise from CEO Gracy Chen

When $387.5 million vanishes from a crypto exchange, the clock starts ticking immediately. NEAR Intents, a cross-chain intent-based swap protocol, just demonstrated what happens when the compliance team reacts faster than the thieves. Following the September 24 breach of Bitget, NEAR Intents’ built-in risk-intelligence layer, called SHIELD, detected and blocked more than $50 million in attempted laundering tied to the hack. Of the flagged transactions, only about $166,000 managed to slip through the system. Another $503,000 was frozen mid-execution. How SHIELD caught what others missed NEAR Intents operates as a cross-chain swap protocol on the NEAR blockchain, processing over $100 million in daily volume under normal conditions. SHIELD works by pulling signals from multiple intelligence and compliance providers to identify transactions linked to known exploits, sanctioned wallets, or suspicious behavioral patterns. When the Bitget funds started flowing, SHIELD flagged them almost immediately. The distinction NEAR Intents draws between “permissionless” and “neutral” is worth understanding. A permissionless protocol lets anyone transact without gatekeepers. A neutral protocol treats...