Mantra links OM crash to one unidentified exchange

The team behind Mantra (CRYPTO:OM) has attributed the sharp collapse of its native token OM to forced position closures by centralized exchanges, suggesting one particular platform may be responsible.

OM dropped over 90% in value on April 13, falling from $6.30 to below $0.50 during early Asia trading hours.

According to Mantra co-founder John Mullin, the sudden market movement was not a natural sell-off but was “triggered by reckless forced closures initiated by centralized exchanges on OM account holders.”

“A degree of negligence at best, or possibly intentional market positioning,” he suggested, noting that the timing of the crash—on a Sunday evening UTC—occurred during low liquidity.

Mullin also responded to speculation that the event was a rug pull or caused by a failed loan taken out using OM as collateral.

“The team did not have a loan outstanding,” he stated in a follow-up post.

“Tokens remain locked and subject to the published vesting periods.”

He added that OM’s tokenomics “remain intact,” and that wallet addresses linked to the project are still publicly accessible.

While Mullin did not name the exchange involved, he told users on X that the team was still “figuring out the details” but clarified that Binance was not responsible.

Blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain reported that at least 17 wallets moved 43.6 million OM—representing 4.5% of the circulating supply—into exchanges beginning April 7.

Separately, Spot On Chain said that whales who acquired 84.15 million OM in March transferred 14.27 million of those tokens to OKX just days before the crash.

After the drop, OM briefly recovered to over $1 but has since fallen to around $0.78, according to CoinGecko.

The token is now down more than 91% from its all-time high of nearly $9 in February.

At the time of reporting, the MANTRA price was $0.7136.