MANTRA’s $OM Token Crashes 90% in Sudden Drop as Team Denies Rug Pull Claims
The native token of MANTRA, a Layer 1 blockchain project focused on real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, suffered a shocking price collapse over the weekend — plunging more than 90% in just under two hours. The sharp drop has raised alarm across the crypto community, sparking accusations of a potential rug pull, which the MANTRA team strongly denies.
On Sunday, $OM began to show signs of weakness, declining by about 10% between 5:20 pm and 6:20 pm UTC. But what followed was far more dramatic: the token plummeted from $5.21 to roughly $0.50 within 90 minutes, based on pricing data from The Block. This sudden crash wiped out nearly all short-term gains, sending shockwaves through the investor base.
In a now-unavailable public Telegram chat, community lead Dustin McDaniel addressed concerns while attempting to defuse rumors of malicious activity. “I do not know anything until the team has had time to look into [the price drop],” he told The Block. Meanwhile, users reported the Telegram group had become inaccessible shortly after the incident.
The project had previously faced scrutiny over allegations that it retained control over a significant portion of $OM’s circulating supply — or float — potentially giving it the power to influence the token’s market behavior. These concerns resurfaced following the crash.
John Patrick Mullin, MANTRA’s co-founder, rejected those claims in a statement on X (formerly Twitter). “OM has been in circulation since August 2020,” Mullin wrote, implying that the longevity of the token reflects credibility. He recently highlighted the project's partnership with Dubai-based DAMAC Group, which plans to tokenize more than $1 billion in real estate, as a sign of legitimate progress and long-term vision.
Still, concerns about the project's fundamentals linger. Data from DeFiLlama showed that while MANTRA’s fully diluted market cap hovered around $9.5 billion, its total value locked (TVL) was a comparatively modest $13 million — a ratio that some viewed as a red flag.
Further fueling speculation, crypto sleuths on X, including Insomniac from Castle Labs, identified three wallets that transferred millions of dollars’ worth of $OM to exchanges OKX and Binance just days before the crash. One wallet, in particular, received $36 million worth of $OM from Binance on March 21 and went on to send over 4.3 million tokens to OKX across multiple transactions on Saturday.
As of now, the MANTRA team and Mullin have not issued any further statements or responded to additional requests for comment. The community remains on edge, awaiting clarity on the causes behind the token’s nosedive.