MANTRA founder and CEO John Patrick Mullin has recently taken a significant step to rebuild trust within the community by initiating the burn of his entire 150 million OM token allocation. This move is part of MANTRA’s broader strategy to enhance transparency and reaffirm its mission of creating a decentralized financial ecosystem driven by tokenization.
The token burn process, which involves permanently removing 150 million OM tokens from circulation, is currently underway and is expected to be completed by April 29, 2025. These tokens were originally staked during MANTRA Chain’s mainnet launch in October 2024 to secure the network. The tokens will be sent to the burn address “mantra1qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqcg2my8,” effectively reducing the total supply of OM by 150 million.
Transaction hashes associated with the unstaking process have been made public, allowing for on-chain verification of the burn process. Additionally, MANTRA is in discussions with ecosystem partners to coordinate a second burn of 150 million OM tokens, which would double the total burn amount to 300 million OM. This combined burn would reduce the total OM supply from 1.82 billion to 1.52 billion, marking a significant change in tokenomics.
As a result of the 150 million OM burn from the team and core contributor allocation, the number of staked tokens on the network will decrease from 571.8 million to 421.8 million OM. This adjustment will lower MANTRA Chain’s bonded ratio from 31.47% to 25.30%, leading to an increase in on-chain staking annual percentage rates (APRs).
The decision to burn the tokens follows a recent flash crash on April 13, during which OM’s price plummeted by over 90% within an hour, causing significant losses in value. The crash was reportedly triggered by a $40 million token deposit into OKX from a wallet allegedly linked to the team, prompting concerns of insider selling. This event led to rumors of undisclosed over-the-counter deals, delayed airdrops, and excessive token supply concentration, resulting in widespread panic and mass liquidations across exchanges.
In response to these events, John Patrick Mullin announced the token burn as a means of demonstrating transparency and rebuilding community trust. Despite these efforts, OM’s price continues to experience volatility and remains more than 90% down from its previous levels.
The move towards token burning reflects a growing trend in the industry, with tokenized projects prioritizing credibility and incentivizing long-term engagement through transparent and deflationary supply mechanisms. MANTRA’s commitment to enhancing transparency and rebuilding trust within the community is a positive step towards fostering a more robust and sustainable financial ecosystem.