In one of the most dramatic collapses in recent crypto history, MANTRA’s OM token plummeted over 90% within hours over the weekend, erasing more than $5.4 billion in market value. The price crashed from $5.21 to just $0.50 before briefly rebounding to around $1.20 — a flash crash that stunned even veteran traders.
The immediate cause appears to be a cascade of forced liquidations totaling $66.97 million in just 12 hours. However, underlying structural issues had reportedly been brewing for months. Analysts and on-chain data suggest that the project’s tokenomics were unusually centralized, with one wallet controlling nearly 90% of OM’s total supply — approximately 792 million tokens. This left only 10–20% of tokens in actual circulation, creating an extremely fragile market structure.
Adding to the instability, 17 wallets offloaded a combined 43.6 million OM tokens — valued at roughly $227 million — to exchanges just days before the crash. Rumors also circulated about off-exchange sales at deep discounts, severely damaging confidence among retail investors and triggering a liquidity spiral that exchanges couldn’t absorb.
Before the crash, OM had been one of the best-performing tokens of the year. It reached an all-time high of $9.04 in February and had risen over 825% year-on-year. Many in the community saw it as a resilient project despite broader market corrections.
In hindsight, however, critics argue that OM’s price strength was largely manufactured. Delayed airdrops, justified by vague “Sybil attack” concerns, aggressive market-making strategies, and limited free-floating supply helped suppress selling pressure and sustain inflated prices. The announcement of a $108 million ecosystem fund just days before the crash only added to the illusion of strength.
Major exchanges like Binance and OKX have since issued statements and clarified their handling of OM’s rapid decline. The MANTRA team has promised a full postmortem. Meanwhile, investors are left questioning whether the collapse was a case of mismanagement — or something more deliberate.
