Following the massive collapse of the OM token on April 13
Mantra CEO John Mullin said he is considering burning all tokens reserved for the team as a way to regain the trust of the community involved in the project.
“I plan on burning all of my team tokens, and when I do, the community and investors will be able to decide if I got them back,” Mullin said in a post on X on April 16.
The team’s token allocation is actually vesting only starting in 2027, which is 30 months from mainnet launch (Oct. 24). I’m planning to burn all of my team tokens and when we turn it around the community and investors can decide if I have earned it back. ️
https://t.co/ZQR1H5xAqF
— JP Mullin (, ️) (@jp_mullin888)
April 15, 2025
Current Token Lockup and Market Impact
Currently, 300 million OM are locked up for team members and core contributors — representing about 16.88% of the total supply of 1.78 billion tokens. These assets, locked until 2027 and scheduled to be released gradually through 2029, are valued at approximately $236 million at the coin’s current price of around $0.78. However, before the sharp drop, they were worth around $1.89 billion.
The collapse of the OM token, which fell from $6.30 to $0.52, wiped out more than $5.5 billion in market value. The company attributed the move to “reckless liquidations,” denying that the team was involved in manipulation or any wrongdoing.
Decentralized Vote and Community Reactions
Mullin also proposed that the decision on whether to burn tokens should be made through a decentralized vote. While some community members support the idea, others are skeptical about its long-term impact. Ran Neuner, founder of Crypto Banter, said: “This would be a mistake. We want teams to be highly incentivized. Burning the incentive may seem like a nice gesture, but it will hurt team morale in the long run.”
Crisis Response and Future Plans
As part of the crisis response, Mullin revealed that the Mantra Ecosystem Fund, valued at $109 million, could be used for buybacks and future token burns in an attempt to stabilize the value of OM.
The company also rejected claims that it holds 90% of the token supply and denied involvement in insider trading.
The token’s sharp drop coincided with a major OM move on exchanges like OKEx and Binance, which denied any involvement. Both exchanges attributed the volatility to the tokenomics change implemented in October and the subsequent mass liquidations.