Mantra's CEO Mullin Initiates 150M OM Token Burn to Boost Value

Mantra's founder and CEO, John Patrick Mullin, has initiated the process of unstaking 150 million of his OM tokens, with the intention of sending them to a burn address. This action is aimed at reducing the circulating supply of OM tokens, which could potentially increase their value. The unstaking process began on April 21 and is expected to be completed by April 29, at which point the tokens will be permanently removed from circulation.

Mullin described this move as the "first step in rebuilding trust with the community, but far from the last." He also mentioned that Mantra is in discussions with key ecosystem partners about burning an additional 150 million OM tokens, which would bring the total burn amount to 300 million. This reduction in supply would decrease Mantra’s total supply to 1.67 billion tokens and lower the number of staked tokens by over 26%, from 571.8 million to 421.8 million. Consequently, the bonded ratio would decrease from 31.47% to 25.30%, resulting in an increase in staking annual percentage rate (APR).

This token burn initiative comes in the wake of a significant price collapse of the OM token, which saw a rapid 90% drop on April 13. In response to this event, Mullin posted on X that he intended to burn all of the staked tokens he was allocated at the blockchain’s mainnet genesis in October. These vested "team tokens" were scheduled to be unlocked starting in 2027. Mullin also conducted a poll on X to gauge community sentiment regarding the proposed burn, with options including extended vesting or unlocking tokens at milestones. The poll received nearly 9,000 votes, with some commenters criticizing it as an attempt to backtrack on the burn commitment.

The burn is part of an "OM Token support plan" announced by Mantra following the price crash. This plan includes a token buyback program, which Mullin stated is "well underway." Additionally, Mantra has released a tokenomics dashboard to enhance transparency and regain the trust of the community. Despite these efforts, the OM price remains significantly down from its earlier value of $6.30, trading at below $0.55 at the time of writing.