Mantra to Burn $160M OM Tokens, 50% From DAO’s Founder, Following 90% Price Crash

Mantra, the real-world asset tokenization platform whose OM token crashed earlier this month, is pushing to burn as much as 16.5% of its total supply valued about $160 million to boost staking rewards after talks with key partners.

The proposal to burn as many as 300 million of its 1.8 billion tokens will drop the bonded ratio from 31.47% to 25.30%. It includes a confirmed tranche of 150 million OM, or about $80 million, belonging to founder John Patrick Mullin and an additional set of tokens owned by “ecosystem partners.” Specifics were not shared in a Monday update.

Mullin’s tokens are part of his team allocation that were staked when the network first started in October 2024. The burn process, which requires unstaking, will wrap up by April 29, when the tokens hit the network’s burn address.

“The process of unstaking 150 million tokens from the Team and Core Contributor bucket has now begun,” the team said.

The move follows the OM's brutal 90% price crash on April 13, which erased over $5 billion in market value in just hours. The Mantra team pinned the collapse on “reckless liquidations” by exchanges at the time amid speculation some investors were liquidating their positions.

Mantra lets users tokenize real-world assets (RWAs) like real estate and commodities, enabling compliant digital investments in tangible assets. Its OM token facilitates transactions and governance.

In January, Mantra partnered with DAMAC Group, a UAE-based conglomerate, to tokenize $1 billion in assets, including real estate, hospitality and data centers, boosting the OM token's value.

OM was among the biggest market gainers in 2024, rising more than 400% on relatively low public conversation on crypto-related social media. The strength of the move intrigued traders and investors alike.

The OM price is down 3.3% over the past 24 hours despite the burn announcement, indicative of a steep hit in investor confidence.