MANTRA Founder John Patrick Mullin Burns 150 Million OM Tokens to Restore Value

MANTRA founder and CEO John Patrick Mullin has started the process of burning 150 million OM tokens in an effort to restore

MANTRA founder and CEO John Patrick Mullin has begun burning 150 million OM tokens, according to a company announcement on Friday.

The unstaking process began on April 21 and will be completed by April 29, with the tokens being permanently removed from circulation.

The move comes in response to a major price crash on April 13, which saw OM’s price plummet by 90% within a single hour. This crash wiped out billions in market value and left many investors reeling.

The sudden price collapse was reportedly triggered by a $40 million token deposit into OKX exchange by a wallet that some believed was linked to the MANTRA team. This large deposit sparked fears of insider selling and led to widespread panic in the market.

Rumors about undisclosed over-the-counter deals and delayed airdrops only fueled the fire, resulting in mass liquidations across multiple exchanges.

As part of the unstaking process, the company is also in talks with “key ecosystem partners” about burning an additional 150 million OM tokens. If successful, this would bring the total burn amount to 300 million, further reducing the total supply to 1.52 billion tokens.

The transaction hashes for the unstaking process have been publicly shared, allowing anyone to verify the burn process on the blockchain. MANTRA will release a complete verification report once the final burn transaction is confirmed.

“This is a first step in rebuilding trust with the community, but far from the last. We will keep the community updated as we take further action,” Mullin stated in the announcement.

The token burn is expected to have positive effects for those who continue to stake OM tokens. By reducing the number of staked tokens, the “bonded ratio” will decrease from 31.47% to 25.30%.

This change will result in higher staking rewards for token holders who keep their OM staked on the MANTRA Chain. The increase in annual percentage rate (APR) could provide an incentive for investors to maintain or increase their positions despite recent volatility.

The burn is part of a broader “OM Token support plan” announced by MANTRA following the price crash. This plan also includes a token buyback program, which Mullin has stated is “well underway.”

In addition to these measures, MANTRA has launched a tokenomics dashboard to increase transparency. This tool allows community members to monitor token distribution and circulation, addressing concerns about excessive token supply concentration that surfaced during the crash.

Despite these efforts, OM’s price remains down around 90% from its pre-crash value of $6.30. At the time of writing, the token is trading below $0.55.

The tokens being burned were originally staked during MANTRA Chain’s mainnet launch in October 2024. They were part of Mullin’s allocation as a team member, which was set to be unlocked starting in 2027.

Two days after the price collapse, Mullin announced on X (formerly Twitter) that he intended to burn all of his staked tokens. He also ran a poll asking for community input on the proposed burn, which attracted nearly 9,000 votes.

Some community members expressed criticism, arguing that the poll was an attempt by Mullin to back away from the burn commitment and that his actions were not keeping pace with his words. However, the current action appears to confirm Mullin’s intent to follow through with the original plan.