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In one of the most dramatic implosions in recent crypto events, MANTRA’s OM token crashed 90% within hours, wiping out over $5.4 billion in market value. The price collapsed from $5.21 to $0.50 over the weekend before a brief rebound to ~$1.2 — a flash crash that stunned even hardened market veterans.
The community quickly compared the event to LUNA’s historic collapse, but data shows MANTRA's fall was uniquely self-inflicted.
The Cracks Beneath the Surface
While the immediate trigger for OM’s collapse was a sudden cascade of forced liquidations totaling $66.97 million in just 12 hours, it seems the underlying fragility had been building for months. MANTRA’s team allegedly exercised extreme control over OM’s supply, with up to 90% of tokens — about 792 million OM — held in a single wallet. This left only 10–20% of the total supply circulating freely, making the token acutely vulnerable to any significant sell pressure.
In the days leading up to the crash, on-chain data seems to have revealed that 17 wallets collectively offloaded 43.6 million OM — worth approximately $227 million — to exchanges, representing 4.5% of the circulating supply. At the same time, rumors emerged that tokens were being sold off-exchange at 50% or greater discounts, further undermining confidence in the open market.
In the last two days alone, a total of 43.6 million $OM tokens were sent to exchanges, equivalent to ... More 4.5% of the circulating supply. One of these wallets was flagged as being related to Laser Digital, one of MANTRA’s strategic investors.
Source: Arkham
These conditions would later set the stage for a liquidity death spiral. When major holders began exiting, the already thin order books couldn’t absorb the sudden wave of sell orders, triggering cascading liquidations across exchanges and accelerating OM’s collapse.
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