- MANTRA announced significant team reductions after a difficult 2025.
- The restructuring aims to improve capital efficiency and refocus on core business operations.
- The OM token was trading around $0.076 at the time of reporting.
MANTRA, a layer-one blockchain focused on tokenizing real-world assets (RWA), has announced plans for a restructuring that will result in substantial staff cuts.
This decision comes as MANTRA seeks to reset after a challenging year, said CEO and founder John Patrick Mullin in a public statement.
He described the move as one of the toughest in the company’s history, noting that the native OM token has been trading near $0.076.
The cryptocurrency fell sharply from highs around $8.50 in February 2025.
MANTRA expects recovery in 2026 driven by key restructuring
According to Mullin, the restructuring will primarily affect support functions such as business development, marketing, human resources and other non-core roles.
The layoffs are part of a broader organizational reform intended to optimize operations, reallocate resources and implement other efficiency measures.
“As part of this strategic shift for MANTRA in 2026, we aim to be leaner overall, streamline operations, concentrate our resources and commit to disciplined execution,” he said.
The company cited several factors behind the difficult decision, including what it called “extremely unfortunate and plainly unfair events” in April 2025.
At that time, the OM token suffered a dramatic price collapse of more than 90% in a sudden crash that wiped out billions in market value, driven in part by forced liquidations on centralized exchanges.
Reports of manipulation and rapid sell-offs amid low liquidity further harmed the project.
“The prolonged market downturn, increased competition and shifting market dynamics made our cost structure unsustainable relative to our near-term realities,” Mullin said.
MANTRA’s potential
Despite the setbacks and challenges, Mullin said the team remains optimistic and intends to build on prior achievements.
In his post he outlined a belief that the MANTRA chain still has the potential to drive innovation and adoption in the real-world asset space.
By optimizing operations, cutting non-essential expenses and redirecting resources toward core priorities, MANTRA aims to enforce more disciplined execution.
The goal is to enable the project to deliver consistent product development and move toward profitability and sustainable growth.
The announcement prompted mixed reactions: some community members praised the transparency, while others expressed clear concern.
Mullin said he does not plan to leave the project and that the team will share more details about the refined priorities and operating cadence in the coming weeks.
The native token, which reached an all-time high of $9.04 in February 2025, traded intraday as high as $0.082 on January 14, 2026.