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Mantra’s OM tokens collapse over 90% overnight, and the crypto world cannot agree with the reason. On April 13, OM prices fell below $0.50 from over $6, sweeping out its market capitalization of over $5 billion, causing widespread panic throughout the crypto industry.
The sudden crash was compared to Terra’s Luna Implosion as traders scrambled for answers. Rumors quickly spreading about insider dumping, forced liquidation, mislabeled wallets and unverified exchange operations, but the mantra claims it got caught in the middle.
Mantra has built a strong position in the real-world asset token brewing tale heading for April 13th, backed by a billion dollar deal to tokenize the real estate and data centres of Dubai-based Damac Group. He secured a Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA) license in Dubai and launched a $108 million ecosystem fund with support from heavyweights such as Laser Digital, Shorooq, Amber Group and Brevan Howard Digital. In February 2025, OM tokens reached an all-time high of $9.
However, on April 13th, the momentum was severely suspended. The time that followed drew awkward picture of token transfers, insider speculations, and changing responsibility. Here’s a detailed look at how the OM collapse unfolded.
24-hour mantra Omfire sco
April 13th (16:00–18:00 UTC)
Mantra’s Om Token was traded sideways throughout the day. This 2-hour window dropped from $6.14 to $5.52.
April 13th (18:00-20:00 UTC)
The token suddenly fell to $1.38 in the first hour and then to $0.52 in the next hour. I lost over 90% of its value in one day. Social media exploded with theory, including lag pull, insider dumping, forced liquidation, and exchange operations.
April 13th (20:00–22:00 UTC)
Early speculations surround the rug pull caused by screenshots of the deleted telegram channel. This was later exposed as the group that was deleted was not the official Matra channel. Cointelegraph confirmed that the project’s telegram was active at the time of writing.
Mantra shared their first statement on X, but the brief update was filled with immediate backlash from the community.
April 13th (22:00–00:00 UTC)
Mantra co-founder and CEO John Patrick Mullin posted a more detailed statement on X, claiming that OM’s market behavior was caused by “a reckless forced closure initiated by a central exchange of OM account holders.”
“The timing and depth of the crash suggests that a very sudden closure of account positions has been launched without adequate warning or notification,” Marin said.
“This indicates the intentional market position that what happened during the low-fluid hours at UTC (early morning Asian time) on Sunday evenings is at best some negligence, or a centralized exchange.”
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April 14th (00:00–02:00 UTC)
According to blockchain tracker LookonChain, at least 17 wallets deposited a total of 43.6 million OM (valued by $227 million) on Binance and OKX in the days leading up to the crash.
Two of these wallets are labelled by blockchain data platform Arkham Intelligence as belonging to strategic mantra investor Laser Digital. The label has sparked further speculation and allegations against Laser Digital. At the time of writing, the accuracy of Arkham’s labels has not been verified, and the platform has not responded to Cointelegraph’s request for clarification.
Meanwhile, Mullin answered community questions under his X post, suggesting that internal findings pointed to one exchange as the main cause of the collapse.
April 14th (02:00–05:00 UTC)
Both Binance and OKX responded to the situation. Binance said, “We know that Mantra’s native token, $OM, is experiencing significant price volatility. Our initial findings show that past day developments are the result of exchange cross-cross-clearing.”
OKX CEO Star Xu posted to X. “It’s a big scandal for the entire crypto industry. All unlocking and deposit data for Onchin is all public. We can investigate the collateral and liquidation data for all major exchanges.
OKX states: “Following the incident, we conducted an investigation to identify major changes in the talk nemics model of mantra tokens since October 2024.
“Our research also revealed that since March 2025, several chain addresses have been implemented with potentially coordinated large deposits and withdrawals across various centralized exchanges.”
April 14th (05:00–12:00 UTC)
Laser Digital rejected the ownership of the wallets tagged by Arkham and reported by Lookonchain, calling them misunderstanding.
“We absolutely want to be clear: the laser is not depositing OM tokens on OKX. The wallet referenced is not a laser wallet,” the company says on X, sharing three token addresses to support the claim that no sales have occurred.
Lookonchain used Arkham data that had been dormant for a year before it became active a few hours before crashing to identify another wallet. The wallet was labelled as belonging to Shane Singh, the founding partner of Shoroke Partners, and received 2 million OMs just before the collapse.
April 14th (12:00-13:00 UTC)
Mullin joined Cointelegraph’s Chain Reaction Show, denying reports that major mantra investors had abandoned OM before the collapse. He dismissed allegations that the team controls 90% of the supply.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fwxj-qikd4
“I don’t think that’s a basis. I posted a community transparency report last week, and it shows all the different wallets,” Marin said. Additionally, he reassured users that OM token recovery was the main concern of the team.
“We are in the early stages of putting together this plan for a potential acquisition of tokens,” he said.
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April 14th (13:00-16:00 UTC)
More theories have begun to emerge. Onchain Bureau claimed that Falconx’s market maker was in charge of the price crash. They denounced it with the loan options model. This is a service that allows market makers to borrow tokens and perform guaranteed purchases at the expiration date of the contract.
“Instead of paying the market makers at their monthly vassal fee, they signed a contract. For example, they signed that the expiration of the contract allows them to purchase a 1m token for $1. Clearly, when the contract expired, they implemented the contract and created a bag.”
Shortly afterwards, Onchain Bureau followed up and said Falconx refused to be the market maker of mantras. Mullin also responded to the post, saying Falconx is not a market maker for the project. He instead described them as trading partners.
Meanwhile, Crypto detective Zachxbt claims that individuals associated with leaf finance were allegedly seeking large OM-backed loans in the days leading up to crash.
What we know about OM crashes
Several theories have been staked. The initial horror ranged from rug pulls to insider trading, but the mantra rejected it in several instances by sharing wallet addresses. The team responded to online comments and media enquiries and assured them they weren’t running away.
The Mantra also denied that the price collapse was the result of an expired transaction with market maker Falconx. Some fingers are pointed at laser digital, which he says is the result of misunderstandings in Arkham Intelligence.
Arkham Intelligence has not responded to Cointelegraph’s requests to clarify its labels. However, Arkham’s laser digital tags are low confidence predictions created by AI models and are not validated entities with blue checkmarks.
After OM crash, Marine said he would burn all the tokens on the team. He later said he would start by putting his assignments on the line.
Mullin announced that Mantra would be making an announcement about his posthumous death, continuing his “Event Statement” on April 16th. The team reiterated that no project-driven token sales had occurred and all team assignments remained locked. The statement doubled the mantra’s plan to bring back tokens and burn programs, but there was no new information on the cause of the crash.
Mullin told CointeLegraph that Mantra tapped an unknown blockchain analyst to investigate the underlying cause of the crash, but for now details remain confidential.
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