OM Token’s Sudden Plummet Stirs Rug Pull Fears, Mantra Blames ‘Sudden Liquidation’  

The OM token, the native cryptocurrency of the Mantra blockchain, registered a sudden and drastic drop over the weekend. The token fell by 90 p.c in worth, from $6 (roughly Rs. 515) to $0.70 (roughly Rs. 60.5), elevating alarms throughout the crypto neighborhood. Speculations suggesting a possible rug pull flooded social media quickly after the worth of the OM token began to say no. Suspicions round a possible hack additionally surfaced on social media, intensifying market concern. However, the Mantra management staff have been fast to deal with the state of affairs and dismiss rug pull rumours.

The broader crypto market misplaced momentum final week following US President Donald Trump’s announcement of latest tariff guidelines focusing on China, India, Europe, and different areas. Amid the market contraction, the decline of OM token costs reportedly eradicated over $5 billion (roughly Rs. 43,048 crore) from its total market cap inside hours.

JP Mullin, the co-founder of Mantra addressed the state of affairs by means of X in an try to tame the spiralling frenzy.

“We have decided that the OM market actions have been triggered by reckless compelled closures initiated by centralised exchanges on OM account holders. The timing and depth of the crash counsel {that a} very sudden closure of account positions was initiated with out ample warning or discover. This occurred throughout low-liquidity hours on a Sunday night UTC,” Mullin stated.

A Breakdown of What Happened

The Mantra chain was based in 2020 as a DeFi venture constructed atop the Ethereum mom chain. In October 2024, Mantra transitioned into an unbiased Layer-1 blockchain, supported by the Cosmos SDK. The blockchain community reportedly lays particular concentrate on actual world property (RWAs). The platform has fashioned a number of Web3 partnerships over the previous yr, together with collaborations with Google Cloud and UAE actual property big Damac Group.

Mantra’s Om token plunge over the weekend is being reported because the sharpest single-day crash for any crypto token to this point this yr. The drop amplified market anxiousness at a time when centralised exchanges are already grappling with scams and hack assaults.

In his rationalization, Mullin pointed to intentional market positioning by centralised exchanges as a attainable reason for OM’s worth decline.

“Centralised change companions play an essential position in offering liquidity to initiatives like ours. However, they proceed to train enormously excessive ranges of discretion. When discretionary powers are exercised with out due inside and exterior oversight, dislocations like what just lately occurred can and can happen, hurting each initiatives and traders alike,” he famous.

The management at Mantra additionally ensured neighborhood members that the tokenomics of the OM token stays intact and claimed that their staff didn’t trigger these “reckless liquidations”.

OM token’s complete market cap drastically dropped to $700 million (roughly Rs. 6,026 crore) over the weekend. Before the crash, OM token’s market cap was reportedly over $6 billion (roughly Rs. 51,657 crore).

Data by CoinMarketCap reveals that over 969 million OM tokens are at the moment in circulation – with the utmost provide capped at 1.81 billion.

Market Reactions

As OM’s worth started to spiral, the ensuing market turmoil prompted crypto platforms to interact with their communities in an effort to comprise broader fallout. Binance Customer Support, for example, addressed the state of affairs on X, stating that danger management measures for OM had been in place since October resulting from vital adjustments within the token’s economics.

“Binance is conscious that $OM, the native token of MANTRA, has skilled vital worth volatilities. Our preliminary findings point out that the developments over the previous day are a results of cross-exchange liquidations,” the @BinanceHelpDesk deal with informed its followers.

In a dialog with Gadgets 360, India’s CoinDCX additionally stated that, “whereas some imagine OM was subjected to a rug pull or a possible exploit or a sensible bug, the chances of a compelled liquidation of longs by centralised exchanges are larger.”

Binance Academy explains “compelled liquidations” as an “involuntary conversion of property into money or money equivalents the place promoting occurs robotically when sure situations are met.”

For now, the Mantra staff has strongly suggested its neighborhood members in opposition to participating with random or suspicious accounts which will look affiliated with the venture. The platform is anticipated to host a neighborhood join session on X to answer neighborhood grievances.