That 1-day chart of OM looking like a deadly cliff is not just a fancy graph but a brutal reminder of how sharply the OM price fell, erasing billions of dollars of market cap in the blink of an eye. However, such a dramatic fall doesn’t happen without a just as dramatic reason. With so much noise in the crypto space about this incident, it is easy to get diverted from the real reason. So, instead of jumping on the bandwagon of confusion, let’s take a moment to dig into the incident and figure out the answer to “Why did the Mantra (OM) coin crash?”
If you are more of a problem solver, you will also like our “What is the future of OM now?” section.
So, let’s start with what exactly happened!
During an intraday trading session on April 13, 2025, Mantra (OM) coin was trading at $6.21. Just hours later, the OM price dropped drastically to below $0.49 levels, losing nearly 92% of its value in a single day. The project’s market cap fell from $6 billion to $689 million, which triggered speculations of a potential rug pull and market panic among OM and other altcoin investors. The entire incident was unexpected as the project had no earlier announcements that could trigger a sell-off. In fact, the project launched a $108 million fund to support the Real World Assets (RWA) projects only a few days ago.
But why did the Mantra (OM) coin crash? Let’s find out.
Why did the Mantra (OM) Coin Crash?
Right after the Mantra (OM) free fall started, crypto Twitter flooded with multiple analyses, possibilities, theories, and revelations. Some users compared it to the Terra-LUNA collapse of 2022, and others marked it as a never-before-seen incident. For instance, a research analyst named Choze (@AlwaysBeenChoze) posted that the Mantra team owned 90% of the total OM supply and sold its allocations. It also accused the project team of deleting their Telegram group.
Additionally, another account called Master of Crypto posted that the Mantra team has reportedly sent OM tokens worth $590 million to multiple exchanges. He further stated that shortly after the transfer, the core team resigned, which exaggerated the rumours of OM coin turning out to be an exit scam. He shared that the project had complete control over the OM token supply, which it used to execute OTC dumps.
Furthermore, a blockchain analytics platform, Lookonchain, revealed that at least 17 wallets deposited 43.6 million OM tokens into crypto exchanges from April 7, 2025. This amount makes up 4.5% of the OM token’s circulating supply. Multiple crypto enthusiasts and members are accusing the Mantra core team of manipulating the market price of OM tokens via the huge holdings and sudden sell-off without prior notice.
A possible version of events begins with a wallet labelled “LaserDigital_” that transferred $41 million worth of OM tokens to the OKX exchange just two days before the crash. As per some social media posts, the blockchain data shows that this wallet received most of its OM holdings over a year ago via GSR, which is a known market maker. This is concerning because LaserDigital is an official investor in Mantra’s investment fund. A well-known investor in the project reportedly selling its massive OM holdings without any prior announcement indicates the possibility of this crash being an insider job.
However, Laser Digital denied these allegations and stated that it did not deposit any OM tokens to OKX, and the wallets referred to were not Laser wallets.
A possible red flag that many investors warned about the project before was the multiple changes in tokenomics and distribution. Mantra initially committed a 50M OM token airdrop with a 20% airdrop holding to unlock immediately. However, it later reduced this to 0.3% daily unlocks and then to 10% unlocks in March. Several community members claim that these changes were part of a deliberate delay in token distribution so that insiders get more time to position themselves before users can exit.
In response to all these allegations, the Mantra team also came forward to tell its side of the story, opening up new possibilities behind this price crash. The project’s team informed via its official X account that MANTRA is fundamentally strong and the price crash was the result of reckless liquidations that have nothing to do with the project. They further specifically mentioned that this price crash was not an insider job and that they would share more details soon.
Requoting this post, Mantra co-founder JP Mullin added that a large OM investor on a CEX performed the massive forced liquidation of OM tokens that led to the 90% price crash. He also ensured that the issue would be fixed soon.
Mulin then hosted a live session on X Spaces to reinstate that this was not an exit scam and something else was happening. This quick action and confident response by the Mantra (OM) founder provided stability and improved OM price.
In a detailed post, Mulin explained that reckless forced closures started by centralized exchanges on OM account holders triggered the OM price movement. He revealed that the timing and depth of this crash indicate the possibility of a very sudden closure of account positions without sufficient warning or notice. Since it occurred during low-liquidity hours on a Sunday evening, he expressed possibilities of negligence or intentional market positioning by centralized exchanges.
According to Mulin, Centralized exchanges follow a high level of discretion without enough internal and external oversight, which leads to situations like the OM crash. He was firm in his post that the MANTRA team, including core advisors, chain associations, and other team members, was not involved in this OM token price crash. Lastly, he assured the community to stay patient and not click on any scam link pretending to be affiliated with MANTRA.
The Mantra team later responded to the rumour that its Telegram page had been deleted, clarifying that it was completely false.
Hours later, one of the key investors in the Mantra project, Shorooq, released an announcement stating that it has not sold any OM tokens that lead to this OM coin crash. It ended the statement by reassuring its long-term commitment towards the project and sharing wallet addresses for transparency.
As per Shorooq’s investigation, the root cause of the OM crash was a forced liquidation of large leveraged positions that used OM tokens as collateral by the exchanges, which triggered a catastrophic sell-off across the market. Its statement doubled down on the explanation given by Mantra founder that the timing of the liquidation is during the low liquidity hours on Sunday night which amplified the overall price damage.
Mantra team is planning to soon post a detailed postmortem of the incident which will explain the series of events that caused OM token to lose 90% of its price within hours. It would be a smart approach to wait for this detailed report from the Mantra community before coming to any conclusion. You can keep an eye on the official X page of Mantra (OM) and its founder to stay updated regarding this OM price crash.
What is the Future of the OM Coin Now?
Looking at the current scenario, the future of OM coin looks highly uncertain. The 90% drop in valuation is deemed to have a lasting impact on the project's reputation and legitimacy. Historically, projects, especially altcoins, that suffer drastic price drops, regardless of the reason, often see a significant drop in long-term holders due to a loss of trust. However, the possibility of a strong upward price movement also exists if the project team succeeds in proving itself not guilty of dumping its holdings.
In recent statements, Mantra CEO John Mullin strongly denied insider trading and even outlined plans for OM token recovery after the token collapse. During an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session hosted by Cointelegraph the day after the collapse, Mullin reassured the Mantra community that the core project team is actively working on the recovery of Mantra (OM) tokens. He added that this plan might involve token buybacks and potential burns but hasn’t confirmed anything yet.
In his clarification around the Mantra coin crash, he stated that exchanges that took the Mantra (OM) collateral started taking positions and selling the coins, which created colossal sell pressure and invited more liquidations.
If Mullin's explanation for the Mantra crash proves true, the project may regain the majority of its trust and buyers. However, it is too soon to say anything with much certainty due to the limited information available about the incident.
Thus, it might be a better idea to wait for more clarification on the incident to understand the reasons for this drastic fall before making any investment decisions.
FAQs
What is the future prediction for the OM coin?
The future prediction of OM coin can unfold in two ways. Either the coin can follow the path of previously crashed altcoins like FTT and Terra LUNA, or it can rise from the ashes like a phoenix. The direction it will take depends on the revelations around the Mantra coin crash and the series of events that caused it. If the project team is proved to be involved in insider dumping of Mantra (OM) tokens for personal gains, the project would lose much of its community’s trust and lose its position as one of the top RWA projects. On the other hand, if the team proves that the Mantra crash wasn’t the fault of tokenomics or other technical faults, OM price may see a strong recovery.
Who is the founder of OM coin?
The founders of Mantra (OM) coin are John Patrick Mullin, Will Corkin, and Rodrigo Quan Miranda. Mullin is a fintech researcher, Corkin is a blockchain entrepreneur, and both have over six years of crypto and digital asset experience.
Why is the Mantra coin falling?
The Mantra (OM) coin has fallen over 90% in a few hours, reportedly due to massive forced liquidations by centralized exchanges during low liquidity, which caused a panic sell-off. Allegations of a rug pull and insider token dumps by the project team have also surfaced, though the team denies wrongdoing.
What is Mantra (OM) crypto?
Mantra (OM) is a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform and Layer-1 blockchain focused on real-world asset tokenization, staking, lending, and governance. Its native OM token powers network security, transaction fees, and community governance.
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