MANTRA CEO Burns 150M OM Tokens to Stabilize Price After 90% Crash

MANTRA CEO, JP Mullin, has announced a significant move to burn 150 million OM tokens from his personal allocation, with plans to engage ecosystem partners to burn an additional 150 million tokens. This initiative aims to restore investor confidence and stabilize the altcoin’s price dynamics following a dramatic crash in April.

On April 13, OM experienced one of the most dramatic collapses in recent crypto history, losing over 90% of its value in a single hour. This crash erased more than $5.5 billion in market capitalization and triggered widespread accusations of insider activity and manipulation within the Real-World Assets (RWA) sector. The plunge followed a rapid surge earlier this year, when OM rose from $0.013 to over $6, pushing its fully diluted valuation to $11 billion. The crash was reportedly triggered by a $40 million token deposit into OKX by a wallet allegedly linked to the team, sparking fears of insider selling.

Panic spread quickly as rumors of undisclosed OTC deals, delayed airdrops, and excessive token supply concentration fueled mass liquidations across exchanges. Despite co-founder John Patrick Mullin denying any wrongdoing and blaming centralized exchanges for forced closures, investors and analysts raised concerns about potential manipulation by market makers and CEXs, drawing comparisons to past collapses like TerraLUNA.

In an effort to rebuild trust, Mullin has announced the permanent burn of his 150 million OM team allocation. The tokens, originally staked at mainnet launch in October 2024, are now being unbonded and will be fully burned by April 29, reducing OM’s total supply from 1.82 billion to 1.67 billion. This move also lowers the network’s staked amount by 150 million tokens, which could impact on-chain staking APR. Additionally, MANTRA is in talks with partners to implement a second 150 million OM burn, potentially cutting the total supply by 300 million tokens.

Despite MANTRA’s ongoing token burn efforts, it remains uncertain whether the move will be enough to fully restore investor confidence in OM. From a technical standpoint, if momentum begins to recover, OM could test the immediate resistance at $0.59. A successful breakout at that level may pave the way for further gains toward $0.71, with additional key hurdles at $0.89 and $0.997 standing between the token and a return to the psychologically important $1 mark. However, reclaiming these levels will likely require sustained buying interest and broader sentiment recovery across the Real-World Assets (RWA) sector.

On the downside, if the token burn fails to shift sentiment or if selling pressure continues, OM risks resuming its decline. The first key support lies at $0.51, and a breakdown below that level could send the price further down to $0.469. Given the scale of the recent crash and the lingering distrust among investors, the path to recovery remains fragile—OM now sits at a critical crossroads between a potential rebound and further erosion of its market value.