Here’s what happened in crypto today

Today in crypto, NEAR Intents said it has recovered about $3.8 million stolen during a Thursday security breach, Blast announced it is shutting down its Ethereum layer-2 network after operating costs outpaced revenue and US spot Bitcoin ETFs started October with $102.7 million in net inflows.

NEAR Intents recovers entire stolen $3.8M after ultimatum to exploiter

NEAR Intents said it has recovered about $3.8 million stolen during a Thursday security breach.

Cointelegraph reported on Friday that NEAR Intents had identified the individual behind the security breach and given them 48 hours to return the funds under “responsible disclosure.”

NEAR Intents general manager Alex Shevchenko announced the complete return of funds later on Friday.

“The funds from the $3.8M NEAR Intents hack were sent back in full,” Shevchenko wrote on X. “We are stopping the investigation. Please use bug bounties instead of disrupting the services.”

Blast shuts down Ethereum L2 as operating costs exceed revenue

Blast is shutting down its Ethereum layer-2 network after concluding that the chain costs more to operate than it generates in revenue.

The network said there is no “credible path” to becoming economically sustainable and urged users to move their assets to Ethereum mainnet. Blast will shorten its withdrawal delay to 24 hours, although withdrawals will be temporarily paused while it unwinds assets held through Lido, a process expected to take about a week.

Users have until Oct. 26 to withdraw through Blast’s interface. Assets will remain accessible after the deadline, but users will need to interact directly with the network’s bridge contracts on Ethereum.

Blur founder Tieshun “Pacman” Roquerre launched Blast in 2023, offering native yield on Ether and stablecoins alongside incentives tied to an anticipated token airdrop. The strategy attracted more than $2 billion before its mainnet launch in February 2024.

The early momentum faded alongside the NFT market. Blast’s DeFi total value locked has fallen more than 98% from its roughly $2.2 billion peak in June 2024.

Bitcoin ETFs kick off “Uptober” with $103 million inflow

US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) flipped back to net inflows on the first trading day of October after their strongest quarter of 2026.

Bitcoin ETFs attracted $102.7 million in net inflows on Thursday, following Wednesday’s $148.7 million in net outflows, according to SoSoValue data. Their combined net assets rose to $109.3 billion, while cumulative net inflows reached $57.6 billion.

The positive start to the month followed $6.34 billion in third-quarter net inflows, including $2.65 billion in September. Bitcoin rose 42.7% over the quarter.

Bitcoin traded at about $85,900 at the time of publication, up 2.1% over the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko. Alternative.me’s Crypto Fear & Greed Index slipped to 72 from 74 a day earlier, remaining in “Greed” territory.