NFT

Mantra Disastrous Meltdown: $5.5 Billion Vanishes Overnight


In just two hours on April 13, 2025, Mantra’s native token OM lost more than 90% of its value – a crash that echoed the infamous Luna collapse and now stands as one of the most severe price meltdowns in crypto history.

About Mantra, it’s a Layer 1 blockchain project with OM as its native token. In February 2025, OM experienced a parabolic rally, surging from $5 to a peak of $8.99.

From Asia’s Promising Project to a Luna-Style Meltdown

According to data from CoinMarketCap and TradingView, OM began to plummet from $6.33 on the evening of April 13 to around $0.40 in less than two hours— a nearly 94% drop.

As a result, Mantra’s market capitalization evaporated by nearly $5.5 billion, falling from $6 billion to just $500 million.

“I haven’t seen a crash of this speed and scale since the LUNA collapse,” one trader commented on X.

From Asia’s Promising Project to a Luna-Style MeltdownFrom Asia’s Promising Project to a Luna-Style Meltdown

OM crashed in 2 hours – Source: CoinGecko

On-chain data revealed that a personal wallet transferred approximately 3.9 million OM tokens to the OKX exchange just before the crash occurred. The community now suspects the wallet belongs to an insider from the project.

Additionally, according to a report from BeInCrypto, the Mantra team was involved in undisclosed over-the-counter (OTC) transactions, allegedly selling tokens at discounts of up to 50% compared to market prices.

“MANTRA has a highly centralized token distribution structure, with over 85% of the total supply held by the team and strategic investors. An internal sell-off could easily trigger a domino effect,” Lookonchain commented.

The incident sparked strong backlash against the Mantra team. Some social media users began digging into the team’s past, pointing out that WuBlockchain had previously warned that certain key members of the project were allegedly linked to the online gambling platform 21Pink.

There were also claims that MANTRA once stated it had received investment from FTX, a statement later publicly denied by the now-defunct exchange.

“Not Our Fault”: Mantra Points at Exchanges After 94% OM Collapse

Shortly after OM’s dramatic plunge, Mantra co-founder John Patrick Mullin issued a public statement in an attempt to calm the community. 

Posting on his personal account, Mullin firmly denied any involvement from the core team, the MANTRA Chain Association, or internal investors in the sell-off. He emphasized that all tokens remain locked under the publicly disclosed vesting schedule and that all project-related wallets are fully transparent and trackable.

Mullin claimed that centralized exchanges (CEXes) triggered forced liquidations during a period of low market liquidity—specifically late Sunday UTC.

“The timing and depth of the drop point to an unexpected position closure with no warnings or prior notice. Such an incident highlights a lack of oversight by centralized exchanges and may reflect an intentional attempt to dominate the market,” Mullin stated.

He added “We are actively working with our exchange partners – entities that hold significant control. But when such power is misused, events like this will continue to happen.”

Mantra also announced a community AMA on X to further clarify the incident. The project warned users to avoid clicking on suspicious links, as scammers are attempting to exploit the situation.

Notably, Binance – one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges and the current listing venue for OM, issued an official statement confirming that it is closely monitoring the ongoing developments surrounding MANTRA. In a notice today, Binance stated that it may suspend trading, delist the token, or apply other risk management measures to protect users if it detects serious violations related to transparency or false listing disclosures.

Given the extreme price volatility, disrupted liquidity, and unresolved concerns, analysts urge investors to trade OM cautiously to avoid unnecessary financial risks.

This dramatic collapse also sparked an unexpectedly ironic twist, dragging a completely unrelated project with a similar name – Manta, into the crossfire. Manta’s co-founder publicly clarified that their project has no affiliation whatsoever with Mantra after confusion spread due to the similar names.

Conclusion

The team attributes the crash to external liquidations, but on-chain activity and OTC deal reports have fueled community skepticism.

With its tokenomics under scrutiny and trust in the project rattled, Mantra’s path forward hinges on transparency, swift communication, and structural reform. It remains unclear whether this marks a temporary setback or signals the start of a deeper unraveling.

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