The group behind real-world tokenized asset blockchain Mantra says its native token’s sudden 90% plunge was attributable to exchanges forcibly closing positions with out discover, with one presently unnamed trade doubtlessly responsible.
On April 13, Mantra (OM) value dropped from $6.30 to beneath $0.50, quickly shedding over 90% of its $6 billion market cap.
“Now we have decided that the OM market actions have been triggered by reckless pressured closures initiated by centralized exchanges on OM account holders,” Mantra co-founder John Mullin wrote in an April 13 assertion on X.
“The timing and depth of the crash counsel {that a} very sudden closure of account positions was initiated with out adequate warning or discover,” he added.
Supply: John Mullin
“That this occurred throughout low-liquidity hours on a Sunday night UTC, early morning Asia time, factors to a level of negligence at finest, or probably intentional market positioning taken by centralized exchanges.”
Mullin advised an X person they consider one trade “particularly” was responsible however mentioned they have been nonetheless “determining the small print.” He advised others that the centralized trade in query wasn’t Binance.
Mantra has an upcoming group join on X, the place Mullin says the group would share extra data.
Supply: John Mullin
Some merchants allege the token collapse was a rug pull, whereas others are speculating the Mantra group had used their tokens as collateral to take out an enormous mortgage from a centralized trade and the group fell prey to a mortgage danger parameter change, then a margin name.
Mullin denied these theories in follow-up X posts, saying, “The group didn’t have a mortgage excellent” and have not orchestrated a rug pull.
“Tokens stay locked and topic to the revealed vesting intervals. OM’s tokenomics stay intact, as shared final week in our newest token report. Our token pockets addresses are on-line and visual,” Mullin mentioned.
Supply: John Mullin
The worth of OM staged a minor restoration within the aftermath of the value collapse, briefly returning above $1, however it’s again down and presently buying and selling round $0.7894, in accordance to CoinGecko.
The token hit an all-time excessive of slightly below $9 on Feb. 23 and is now down over 91% from that determine.
Supply: Star Xu
Tens of millions of Mantra tokens moved within the week previous to collapse
Blockchain analytics platform Spot On Chain mentioned in an April 14 publish to X that some OM whales moved 14.27 million tokens to the crypto trade OKX three days earlier than the crash. In March, the identical whales picked up 84.15 million OM for $564.7 million.
“Now, after a brutal 90% drop, their remaining 69.08 million OM is price simply $62.2 million, placing their complete estimated loss at a staggering $406.3 million,” Spot On Chain mentioned.
“Nonetheless, they might have hedged the place elsewhere, and it’s attainable they contributed to the sharp drop.”
Supply: Spot On Chain
On the identical time, blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain mentioned that since April 7, at the very least 17 wallets deposited 43.6 million OM into crypto exchanges, representing 4.5% of the circulating provide.
Associated: Mantra unveils $108M fund to again real-world asset tokenization, DeFi
In January 2025, Mantra and funding conglomerate DAMAC signed a $1 billion deal to tokenize the funding conglomerate’s varied property.
In the meantime, Mantra introduced on Feb. 19 that it had acquired a digital asset service supplier license from Dubai’s Digital Belongings Regulatory Authority.
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