Mantra’s OM token crashed by over 90% on April 13, falling from around $6.30 to under $0.50 in a matter of hours.
Mantra’s OM token crashed by over 90% on April 13, falling from around $6.30 to under $0.50 in a matter of hours. The event erased more than $5 billion in market value and raised concerns about liquidity risks, insider activity, and the structure of crypto markets. Blockchain data from Arkham Intelligence, cited by Lookonchain, showed that 17 wallets transferred a total of 43.6 million OM tokens—worth about $227 million—to exchanges ahead of the crash. Two of these wallets were linked to Laser Digital, a known Mantra investor.
While the exact trigger remains unclear, the scale and timing of the transfers have raised allegations of insider dumping. Gracy Chen, CEO of crypto exchange Bitget, pointed to a combination of factors: highly concentrated token ownership, lack of transparency in governance, sudden inflows to exchanges, and liquidations during periods of low trading volume. She described the data showing millions of OM tokens moving to exchanges as a strong signal of insider dumping. Nicole Zhang of Lingfeng Innovation Fund said the crash reflected the broader risk of centralized activity in low-liquidity environments.
OM had been steadily climbing for months, hitting a high of $9 in February. But the token’s design may have made it vulnerable. Analysts described OM as a “low circulation high FDV” token, meaning that while the fully diluted value exceeded $1 billion, only a small portion of the token supply was in circulation. One analysis indicated that most OM tokens were held in a single wallet controlled by the team. Mantra CEO John Mullin disputed that claim and later denied that any project-affiliated wallets had sold tokens.
After the crash, Mantra released a statement on April 16 saying the team did not sell tokens and was investigating the event. However, the statement did not address why such large volumes of OM were sent to exchanges before the collapse.
Mullin suggested the crash was caused by forced liquidations on centralized exchanges during thin weekend trading hours. In a response on X, he said the team believed one exchange played a central role in triggering the cascade. Chen said OKX was the main platform being discussed in that context.
Weekend liquidity issues are not new to crypto. On April 6, Bitcoin fell below $75,000 during low-volume trading. Lucas Outumuro of IntoTheBlock said this was likely due to Bitcoin being one of the few liquid assets available for de-risking over the weekend. The OM incident highlights how fragile the market can become when volume dries up, tokens are concentrated, and transparency is lacking.
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