Mantra's OM Token Crashes

MANTRA's OM token faced a sudden crash, with over 14 million tokens dumped on OKX alone. Speculation points to a large-scale liquidation by an unnamed exchange. The incident raises concerns about transparency and mirrors past crypto collapses like Terra LUNA and FTX

Observers

Apr 14, 2025 - 1 min read

Mantra's OM token experienced a dramatic crash, losing over 90% of its value in a single day. The crash occurred on April 13, 2025, during low-liquidity trading hours. The token's price dropped from $6.33 to below $0.50, wiping out over $5 billion in market capitalization.

Mantra was launched on Ethereum in August 2020. It began as a decentralized finance platform focused on staking, lending, and governance, using the OM ERC-20 token on Ethereum. In October 2024, the project launched its mainnet, Mantra Chain—a regulatory-compliant Layer 1 blockchain, which quickly emerged as a top performer among similar platforms.

Due to its positioning in compliance with real-world regulatory requirements, the project secured some significant partnership contracts. Notable collaborations include UAE-based RWA tokenization projects with DAMAC Group, MAG Property Development, and Pyse, validation outsourcing to Google Cloud, and Hex Trust.

Mantra's OM Crash Timeline

Blockchain data revealed that in the week preceding the crash, 17 wallets deposited 43.6 million OM tokens (worth around $260 million at those dates) into exchanges. This is almost 5% of the total circulating supply, and such moves are not frequent.

On the OKX exchange alone, large OM holders moved 14.27 million tokens three days before the crash.

Allegations of insider trading and market manipulation have surfaced, with reports suggesting that wallets were linked to the Mantra team.

The Mantra team has denied these claims, attributing the crash to forced liquidations initiated by centralized exchanges.

Mantra's co-founder John Patrick Mullin attributed the crash to a deliberate liquidation of a major OM investor by an unnamed exchange, essentially placing blame without specifying which one. The comments suggest that it was linked to a Binance account.

Mullin clarified that the team's tokens remain locked and subject to the original vesting periods.

This has drawn comparisons to other infamous crypto collapses, like Terra LUNA and FTX. It's a developing story, and we are closely Observing it for further updates.