It was a weekend crypto traders won’t soon forget. On April 13, Mantra’s OM token—once one of the most promising real-world asset (RWA) plays of 2024—plummeted 90% within hours, falling from over $6 to just $0.40. The sharp drop triggered a wave of liquidations, halted trading on some exchanges, and lit up Crypto Twitter with speculation about what went wrong.
Was it a rug pull? A hack? Or something deeper in the structure of the market itself?
The Crash: A Timeline
Just weeks ago, Mantra was riding high. The project had secured a landmark $1 billion asset tokenization deal with Dubai’s DAMAC Group and earned the first DeFi license from Dubai’s VARA. Its OM token surged to an all-time high of $9 in February.
But on April 13, that momentum came crashing down. The price freefell in a low-liquidity window, causing over $50 million in liquidations and wiping out massive open interest on OM futures contracts.
Mantra quickly issued a statement, pointing to “reckless forced closures” by centralized exchanges (CEXs)—which allegedly triggered a cascading chain of margin calls, stop-loss orders, and illiquid sell pressure. The team denies any insider selling or wrongdoing, claiming this was not a rug pull but a liquidity event fueled by exchange risk protocols gone wrong.
Still, critics weren’t convinced.
What Analysts Are Saying
Independent analyst Ed suggests that OM tokens were being used as collateral for high-risk loans on a centralized exchange. As market volatility spiked, exchanges allegedly moved to protect themselves—triggering margin calls and automatic liquidations.
Other observers claim the Mantra team may have pledged their own tokens as collateral, creating a feedback loop where forced selling crashed the price even further.
To add fuel to the fire, OKX founder Star Xu has called the situation “a scandal to the whole crypto industry,“flagging over $220 million in token deposits to exchanges right before the crash. OKX has promised to release detailed data to investigate what happened.
What Happens Now?
While OM has since rebounded slightly—briefly hitting $0.85—the damage to investor trust is real. Many users are demanding greater transparency on Mantra’s token management, loan activity, and relationships with centralized platforms.
The project’s co-founder, John Patrick Mullin, insists “Mantra is fundamentally strong.” But regaining market confidence may take more than tweets. With comparisons being made to Terra’s infamous collapse, OM’s future may depend on whether Mantra can rebuild trust, improve risk protocols, and deliver on its tokenized asset vision.
For now, investors are watching closely—and hoping this was a painful lesson, not a death sentence.