Mantra’s OM token plunges 92% as CEO proposes supply burn and buyback plan

• Mullin proposes burning 300M team tokens.
• Personal holding of 772K OM to be burned first.
• OM rebounds 30%, but long-term impact unclear.

The OM token, native to the Mantra crypto ecosystem, plunged by more than 92% between April 12 and 13, falling from $6.30 to just $0.50. The crash wiped out over $5.5 billion in market capitalisation and sparked widespread investor concerns.

In response, CEO John Patrick Mullin has proposed a supply burn and a potential buyback plan as the platform attempts to regain credibility. Although OM has rebounded by 30% in the past 24 hours to trade at $0.78, trust in the project remains fragile.

Burn proposal under discussion

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Mullin said he intends to burn his personal OM token allocation, which totals 772,000 coins.

He also proposed that the wider team allocation—300 million OM, or 16.88% of the total 1.78 billion supply—could be burned or redirected to a community-controlled mechanism.

These tokens remain locked under a vesting schedule that starts in April 2027 and ends in October 2029. Mullin noted that the token burn would be part of a broader recovery plan, including a post-mortem report and details of a future OM buyback initiative.

Pump-and-dump claims emerge

The dramatic price decline has led to accusations of a pump-and-dump scheme. However, Mullin denied any wrongdoing, stating in an interview that the team had not sold any OM during the crash.

He pointed to a transparency report released the previous week, which detailed the team’s wallet addresses and token holdings.

Mullin also addressed concerns about liquidity movements. He confirmed that the Mantra Chain Association had arranged $25 million to $30 million in over-the-counter (OTC) sales to fund operations.

Still, he stressed that none of these tokens have been transferred and remain locked under the vesting agreement.

Neuner warns against burn

Crypto Banter founder Ran Neuner responded to the proposed token burn with scepticism. He argued that burning team incentives could backfire by damaging long-term motivation, even if it appears to be a positive short-term gesture.

Neuner urged the Mantra team to focus instead on strengthening the project’s fundamentals and delivering results that would restore organic investor confidence.

Mullin acknowledged the differing views but maintained that bold, transparent actions were needed to address the scale of the collapse.

He added that further announcements about the buyback and recovery roadmap would follow once the team completes its internal analysis.

OM bounces, but risks linger

The OM token has shown signs of recovery since the initial collapse, gaining 30% in the past 24 hours. However, this rebound has not erased the deep losses sustained, with the token still down over 85% from its April peak.

As the dust settles, the crypto community is awaiting the full post-mortem and further clarification on the proposed burn and buyback.

The OM crash has become a key case study in how decentralised projects handle sudden market failures and rebuild user trust under intense scrutiny.