Mantra CEO John Mullin directly addressed mounting community concerns during a 14 April Ask Me Anything (AMA) hosted by Cointelegraph, following the steep drop in OM token’s value.
Mullin refuted claims that major Mantra investors offloaded significant amounts of OM prior to the crash, dismissing speculation of coordinated sell-offs.
Mullin stated in the AMA:
“The Mantra association, our key investors, our advisers — no one has sold, and we are going to categorically deny and also provide verifiable proof onchain proof that this is the case.”
The controversy stems from earlier reports suggesting that Laser Digital — a digital asset subsidiary backed by Nomura and a strategic investor in Mantra since May 2024 — may have offloaded substantial OM holdings before the token’s 13 April collapse.
According to blockchain analytics from Lookonchain, citing Arkham Intelligence, two wallets linked to Laser Digital were among 17 wallets that collectively moved 43.6 million OM tokens, valued at roughly $227 million, to centralised exchanges ahead of the plunge.
Arkham Intelligence data shows that a wallet labeled “0x84EE7” and allegedly linked to Laser Digital transferred 6.5 million OM tokens to another address, “0xB37DB,” on 11 April.
This second address then offloaded the tokens on the OKX exchange across several transactions.
However, Laser Digital has denied any involvement, rejecting the Lookonchain report and asserting that the wallets in question are not affiliated with the firm.
Mullin noted during the AMA:
“I don’t know who those wallets belong to. I know they don’t belong to Shorooq. I know they don’t belong to Laser. I know they don’t belong to our key institutional partners.”
Mullin also challenged the accuracy of Arkham’s wallet labelling.
He stated that Mantra was unaware of who was behind the large token transfers ahead of the OM crash and believes the wallets may have been misidentified.
Mullin added that Mantra had already disclosed its primary wallet addresses in a transparency report released on 8 April.
In addition to Laser Digital, on-chain activity around the OM token was also linked on social media to an address reportedly connected to another Mantra investor—Shorooq Partners.
According to data from Lookonchain, a wallet associated with Shane Shin, founding partner of Shorooq, received 2 million OM tokens on 13 April at 11.52am UTC—just hours before the token’s crash.
The source of the transfer was a previously dormant wallet that had received 2.75 million OM earlier in April 2024.
Shin has since denied offloading the tokens, clarifying that the movement appeared to be a wallet-to-wallet transaction rather than a transfer to an exchange.
Both Shorooq Partners and Laser Digital were among the backers of Mantra’s $109 million Ecosystem Fund, announced on 7 April.
A spokesperson for Shorooq stated:
“It is important to note up front that Shorooq (its funds and founding partners) and Mantra (management and team members) have not sold OM tokens in the lead up to, or during, this crash.”
The spokesperson added:
“This means that our focus is on the long-term growth of the project.”
With OKX and Binance among the platforms witnessing heightened OM token activity before and during the crash, both exchanges have weighed in on the incident.
OKX founder Star Xu described the episode as a “big scandal to the whole crypto industry,” underscoring its broader implications.
While Mullin suggested the crash was tied to actions on a single exchange, Binance pointed to “cross-exchange liquidations” as a likely driver.
Binance expressed in an announcement on 14 April:
“Our initial findings indicate that the developments over the past day are a result of cross-exchange liquidations.”
Binance Co-Founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) joked that some people still lay the blame on Binance.
In a statement released on 14 April, OKX noted that Mantra’s tokenomics had undergone significant changes since October 2024 and highlighted signs of unusual activity across several trading platforms.
Mullin reassured users that Mantra and its partners are diligently working towards the recovery of the Mantra (OM) token, though he clarified that plans for token buybacks and potential burns are still in development.
Emphasizing that restoring the OM token's value is Mantra's "top priority," Mullin stated:
“We’re still in the early stages of putting together this plan for potential buyback of tokens.”
As of the latest data, OM is trading at $0.6156, a slight recovery from its post-collapse low of $0.52 on 13 April at approximately 7.30pm UTC.
Despite this rebound, the token has experienced a significant 40.68% drop over the past 24 hours.
Mullin also addressed rumors, firmly denying reports that key Mantra investors sold off OM tokens prior to the crash.
He further dismissed claims that the Mantra team holds 90% of the token's total supply.
Highlighting the “two sides” of Mantra’s tokenomics, Mullin pointed out:
“I think it’s baseless. We posted a community transparency report last week, and it shows all the different wallets.”
Mullin also highlighted the structure of the OM token, which is hard-capped and based on Ethereum, having been active since August 2020:
"You have the Ethereum side and the mainnet side."
Referring the public to Etherscan records, he continued: https://etherscan.io/token/0x3593d125a4f7849a1b059e64f4517a86dd60c95d#balances
“The biggest holder of OM on exchange is Binance.”
Notably, the largest wallet holding OM is owned by the crypto exchange OKX, which controls roughly 14% of the circulating supply, equating to around 130 million tokens.
Mullin provided further insight into the Mantra Ecosystem Fund (MEF), a $109 million initiative launched on 7 April in collaboration with key strategic investors, including Laser Digital and Shorooq.
Other notable backers include Brevan Howard Digital, Valor Capital, Three Point Capital, Amber Group, Manifold, UoB Venture, Damac, Fuse, LVNA Capital, Forte, among others.
Mullin clarified that the fund is not solely composed of Mantra's OM token but also includes significant dollar commitments and contributions, offering a broader financial foundation for the project’s development.
The CEO noted:
“We’ll continue to invest and support the ecosystem as part of this recovery plan.”
During the AMA, Mantra’s CEO addressed a significant 38-million-OM transaction to the Binance cold wallet on 14 April, clarifying that it was related to a staking programme on the Binance platform.
"It was actually Binance," Mullin explained, noting that Binance was using OM tokens held on its exchange as part of its staking program.
He added:
“So, they just returned them because the staking program ended.”
Mullin also highlighted that many of the transactions that sparked the community’s concerns following the crash were linked to collateral movements by an unnamed exchange.
Mullin expressed:
“Effectively, those tokens were being used as collateral on an exchange. Then, the exchange decided that it was not the position they wanted to maintain anymore, for whatever reason. So, what happened was basically the positions were taken over by the exchange that took the collateral and started selling, which caused a cascade of sell pressure and forced more liquidations.”
He reiterated Mantra's commitment to resolving the situation with the utmost transparency, assuring the community that the company is fully dedicated to addressing the matter.
Noting that the incident was a “very unfortunate situation,” Mullin noted:
“We’re not running from anything.”
Mantra’s OM token plunged 90% on Sunday, wiping out $5.2 billion in market value and sparking insider trading speculation. The co-founder denied team involvement, blaming forced liquidations on centralized exchanges. To address concerns, Mantra will host a community session on X.
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