Insider collusion blamed for Mantra token crash

Mantra’s RWA token slumped due to manipulation by insiders controlling more than 90% of supply, according to researchers at OddEyeResearch.

1/ The @MANTRA_Chain Foundation asserts that it was completely unrelated to the recent sell-off of $OM tokens, yet we suspect them of engaging in a market manipulative collusion, and the sell-off was caused by a small ‘betrayal’ by a group member.

Here’s our investigation. pic.twitter.com/2BT35n30i6

— OddEyeResearch (@OddEyeResearch) April 15, 2025

On April 13, OM’s price plunged by about 90% within a short span, wiping $5.5bn from the coin’s market capitalisation. The community suspected a rug-pull by the team.

Did the market manipulation go awry?

OddEyeResearch believes the crash was caused by a “small betrayal” by a member of the group manipulating the asset.

“On-chain evidence and circumstances indicate that a group, including the Mantra Foundation, was involved in a pump-and-dump scheme for the token. The dump appears to have been partially unintentional, as there are rumours of forced closures of OM positions,” the experts noted.

In their view, the sequence of events was as follows:

• the Mantra Foundation planned to issue a new token, AUM, abandoning OM;
• a third party advised the team to keep the existing coin, because the odds of listing a new asset on Binance were far lower than the chances of “pumping” one already trading on the platform;
• the Mantra team agreed and started lifting the token’s price on the exchange using provided resources;
• throughout 2023 the project increased OM supply on CEX, continually adding OM liquidity on Binance via market makers GSR and DWF Labs. Initially, prices rose thanks to a low-base effect;
• in December 2023, before a pump that took the asset’s FDV from $20m to $100m, the exchange float of OM fell by 20%. Unidentified addresses and Mantra Foundation wallets withdrew coins from Binance in the same pattern, then returned them a few months later;
• a similar pattern occurred during the February 2024 pump — after roughly 25% of OM was withdrawn from exchanges, the token’s market capitalisation jumped from $200m to $1bn.

“We believe the recent OM crash occurred because a member of the Mantra group broke the collusion and took unilateral action in the market, whether voluntarily or under duress. We know that a lender forced an entity to liquidate OM collateral. This may be the member of the alliance in question,” said the OddEyeResearch analysts. 

They stressed that restoring the “previous equilibrium” will be extremely difficult because trust among insiders has been lost. In effect, this is a classic prisoner’s dilemma, they added.

“Market manipulation is a crime,” — commented CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju on their findings.

Mantra denies it

Social-media users noted large OM deposits to exchanges in April. From 17 wallets, 43.6m tokens ($227m at the time) were sent—4.5% of the circulating supply. According to Arkham, two addresses were linked to Laser Digital, a strategic investor in Mantra.   

Who crashed $OM?

Since April 7, at least 17 wallets have sent 43.6M $OM to exchanges — that’s 4.5% of the circulating supply, worth $227M at the time.

According to Arkham, 2 of those wallets are linked to Laser Digital, a strategic investor in the MANTRA project pic.twitter.com/2dAyAVxNR6

— Crypto Live (@art_fx0) April 14, 2025

After the OM crash, OKX added a warning about heightened volatility and risks to the token’s page. The exchange highlighted:

• in October 2024, Mantra made “significant changes” to tokenomics;
• since March 2025, there has been potentially coordinated activity involving large deposits to and withdrawals from various CEXs.

We noticed unusual volatility in $OM around 2 AM HKT.

To mitigate trading risks, we’ve updated our risk controls and added a risk warning to the $OM trading pages.

Please exercise caution and DYOR.https://t.co/6GbUuHVWca pic.twitter.com/3OjVMcnzqf

— OKX (@okx) April 14, 2025

Mantra co-founder and CEO John Patrick Mullin, after the crash, insisted neither the team nor the project’s investors were involved. He said the token’s move was driven by “reckless forced liquidations” initiated by exchanges.

He promised to present a detailed report shortly. He also thanked early investors such as Shorooq and Laser Digital. 

1) A quick note to say how much I appreciate all the support the MANTRA team has received in the past 36+ hours. The support and kind words have come from many sources — from partners, investors, friends, and from the wider Web3 community. Thank you.

— JP Mullin (?, ?️) (@jp_mullin888) April 15, 2025

“We will do everything in our power to share accurate, timely and verified information as soon as we have it. We take our responsibility to the community very seriously. You will know the same as we do, right away,” Mullin wrote. 

To restore confidence, the project plans token-burn and buyback programmes, the Mantra chief added.

Earlier in April, prices tumbled for around a dozen illiquid coins. The dump was linked to activity by market maker Wintermute.