Exchange Drama? MANTRA Token Crashes 90% as Team Points Fingers

TLDR

Table of Contents

MANTRA’s token (OM) crashed 90% on April 13, dropping from $6.30 to below $0.50
Co-founder John Mullin blamed “reckless forced closures” by centralized exchanges without sufficient warning
At least 17 wallets deposited 43.6 million OM into exchanges starting April 7 (4.5% of circulating supply)
Some whales moved 14.27 million tokens to OKX three days before the crash, with potential losses of $406.3 million
MANTRA denies allegations of a rug pull or team loans, stating tokenomics remain intact

MANTRA’s native token OM suffered a dramatic 90% collapse on April 13, plummeting from $6.30 to below $0.50 in just hours. The real-world tokenized asset blockchain saw its market cap shrink by over $6 billion during the crash. MANTRA’s team has pointed to forced liquidations by centralized exchanges as the cause, denying any wrongdoing on their part.

John Mullin, MANTRA co-founder, stated on X that “OM market movements were triggered by reckless forced closures initiated by centralized exchanges on OM account holders.” He suggested the timing of the crash during low-liquidity hours on Sunday evening UTC (early morning Asia time) points to “negligence at best, or possibly intentional market positioning taken by centralized exchanges.”

Sherpas, OMies, and broader crypto community,
First off, the team and I greatly appreciate the support that we have received over the past several hours, which we believe is a testament to the strong support MANTRA has among its investors and community.
We have determined that…
— JP Mullin (🕉, 🏘️) (@jp_mullin888) April 13, 2025

Mullin further claimed one exchange “in particular” was to blame, though not Binance, and promised more details during an upcoming community connect on X. The token briefly recovered above $1 after the crash but has since dropped back to around $0.70.

Large Token Movements Preceded the Crash

Blockchain analytics revealed large token movements in the days leading up to the collapse. According to Lookonchain, at least 17 wallets deposited 43.6 million OM into crypto exchanges starting April 7, representing 4.5% of the circulating supply.

Spot On Chain reported that certain OM whales moved 14.27 million tokens to OKX three days before the crash. These same whales had purchased 84.15 million OM for $564.7 million in March. After the 90% price drop, their remaining 69.08 million OM was worth just $62.2 million, representing a potential loss of $406.3 million.

X user Insomniac, governance lead for growth firm Castle Labs, identified three wallets that sent millions of dollars worth of OM tokens to exchanges OKX and Binance in recent days. One wallet received around $36 million worth of OM from a Binance address on March 21, then transferred about 4.3 million tokens to OKX across 8 transactions on Saturday.

Project Denies Wrongdoing Amid Speculation

Some traders have alleged the token collapse was a “rug pull,” while others speculated the MANTRA team had used their tokens as collateral for a large loan from a centralized exchange, which led to a margin call after a loan risk parameter change.

The project’s community lead Dustin McDaniel also downplayed allegations that the MAMullin denied these theories, stating, “The team did not have a loan outstanding” and haven’t orchestrated a rug pull. “Tokens remain locked and subject to the published vesting periods. OM’s tokenomics remain intact, as shared last week in our latest token report. Our token wallet addresses are online and visible,” he added.NTRA team sold tokens, shortly before the project’s public-facing Telegram group became inaccessible.

MANTRA had previously faced allegations of controlling large portions of the token’s circulating supply to manipulate the token’s price. Mullin rebuffed these allegations, noting “OM has been in circulation since August 2020. Longer than most of these people have been in crypto.”

Some investors had pointed to MANTRA’s total value locked (TVL) of only around $13 million compared to its token’s fully-diluted value of $9.5 billion as a potential warning sign.

In January 2025, MANTRA and investment conglomerate DAMAC signed a $1 billion deal to tokenize the investment group’s various assets. The project also received a virtual asset service provider license from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority in February.

OM hit an all-time high of just under $9 on February 23 and is now down over 91% from that figure.

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