- Mantra’s CEO burns 150 million OM tokens to restore confidence after a 90% price crash.
- 81% of the community supported the burn proposal.
- While some are optimistic about the burn’s potential impact, the OM price remains stalled near $0.50.
After a dramatic 90% price collapse on April 13, 2025, triggered by aggressive liquidations, Mantra founder and CEO John Patrick Mullin announced a bold plan to burn his personal allocation of 150 million OM tokens. The move aims to restore trust in the layer-1 blockchain focused on real-world asset tokenization. The crash erased more than $5 billion in market capitalization within hours, and Mullin’s pledge to destroy roughly $82 million worth of tokens at current prices shocked the crypto community.
Overwhelming community support for Mullin’s proposal
A poll on X conducted by John Patrick Mullin drew more than 8,900 votes, with over 81% backing the immediate burn of his tokens. This strong support reflects the community’s desire for decisive action to help revive the OM token. Under the burn proposal, tokens that are not currently staked will be sent to a network burn address by April 29, 2025. The process is designed to be transparent and compliant with protocol rules. Mantra is also exploring a larger coordinated burn with ecosystem partners, including discussions about burning an additional 150 million OM tokens. Altogether, this would remove 300 million tokens or 16.5% of the total 1.817 billion supply. Such a reduction could materially change the token’s supply dynamics. If successful, the total OM supply would fall to roughly 1.517 billion tokens.
Potential impact of the proposed Mantra token burn
The burn is expected to have a positive effect on Mantra’s tokenomics by lowering the staked ratio from 31.47% to 25.30%. Staked tokens would drop from 571.8 million to 421.8 million, which would increase staking APR for the remaining tokens. Higher staking rewards could incentivize holders to lock up OM, reducing selling pressure and supporting price stability. Despite the announcement, the OM price has remained sluggish, trading around $0.5396—an increase of only 0.1% over the past 24 hours. After the burn announcement, the token briefly rose to an intraday high of $0.5585 before sliding back toward the $0.50 range. Ongoing unstaking activity may delay meaningful price moves, while market skepticism persists following the crash. Approximately 4 million OM tokens unlock every few weeks, and with 45% of supply still locked, continuous unlocks could maintain selling pressure that offsets the burn’s benefits. The April 13 crash also sparked allegations of foul play, with some community members accusing the Mantra team of orchestrating a sell-off—claims that Mullin and investor Laser Digital have firmly denied.
Can Mantra’s price recover after the burn?
OM is currently struggling to push above $0.55 amid continuing unlocks and the threat of further liquidations. As a result, market sentiment remains cautious and the psychological uplift from the burn may not be fully realized until the process is complete. Over the longer term, however, the burn could lay the groundwork for recovery. A 16.5% supply reduction is significant, and combined with staking incentives, it could tighten circulating supply, allowing supply-and-demand dynamics to normalize and potentially supporting future price appreciation.