Token OM, the native asset of the MANTRA blockchain, crashed nearly 88% within just an hour and a half on April 14, wiping out $4.6 billion in market capitalization and triggering over $68 million in liquidations. This marks one of the most severe crashes in the crypto market in 2025.
Factors Behind Liquidations and Major Transfers
According to Lookonchain, on the day of the collapse, 17 wallets transferred $227 million worth of OM tokens to exchanges. This amount represents 4.5% of the total circulating supply. Two wallets involved in the transactions were linked to Laser Digital, an investor in MANTRA. This fueled suspicions of an orchestrated dump. MANTRA claims the incident was triggered by a large forced margin call of one investor.
MANTRA Responds It Wasn’t Us
The MANTRA team denied any manipulation in an official statement on X. According to them, the project was not involved in the event.
“It wasn’t our team. We’re investigating the situation and will share more details,” the message read.
CEO John Patrick Mullin confirmed that the drop was due to a forced liquidation of a major holder.
Competitor Reactions and Industry Criticism
Binance issued an official “aware of volatility” statement regarding OM. According to the exchange, the sharp drop was caused by cross-liquidations across platforms. Binance highlighted that since October 2024, it has tightened leverage limits on OM and, starting January 2025, has displayed a warning to users about major changes in OM’s tokenomics and supply. The exchange promised to continue monitoring the situation and take user protection measures if needed.
Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao also commented on the situation. He stated that both centralized (CEX) and decentralized exchanges (DEX) should not filter projects at the listing stage: “They should give access to all tokens in the universe.” Zhao also reminded that he no longer manages Binance.
OKX CEO Star called the OM incident “a major scandal for the entire industry.” He emphasized that data on unlocks, collateral, and liquidations are fully transparent and publicly available for analysis. OKX promised to publish a detailed report.
Financial Imbalance and Questionable Past
According to DefiLlama, MANTRA’s total value locked (TVL) is only around $4.2 million, while its fully diluted valuation (FDV) is $9.5 billion — a severe mismatch between liquidity and market cap.
The community has long voiced distrust toward the project. In 2021, it was reported that MANTRA’s team included online casino owners and that it misled investors by claiming to have received funding from FTX.
Sharp February Rally Followed by Steep Decline
According to Coinmarketcap, OM reached an all-time high of $9.04 in February. Since the beginning of 2025, its price had increased by nearly 60%. However, following the April 14 crash, the token has lost 91,26% from its peak. At the time of writing, OM is trading at $0.7736.
