Binance and Laser Digital Distance Themselves From Responsibility as Mantra (OM) Token Crashes 90%

The price of MANTRA (OM) plummeted this weekend, wiping out 90% of its $600000000 market cap in a matter of hours.

The price of MANTRA (OM) plummeted this weekend, wiping out 90% of its $6 billion market cap in a matter of hours. The steep collapse sparked widespread speculation about insider activity, with X (formerly Twitter) users speculating that the project’s founders may have been involved in a rugpull.

However, the project’s CEO, John Patrick Mullin, has shifted the blame to centralized exchanges, claiming they carried out reckless forced liquidations on OM account holders.

Real-World Asset Project Hit by Forced Liquidations

MANTRA, a real-world asset (RWA) platform that recently announced billion-dollar tokenization deals in Dubai covering real estate and data centers, saw its native token OM undergo a massive drawdown.

As the token price crashed, X users speculated that insiders may have rugpulled investors, pointing to a deleted Telegram group as part of the alleged cover-up.

But Mullin quickly responded to the claims, denying any wrongdoing and sharing a link to the project’s still-active Telegram. He explained that the channel had been temporarily taken down by a bot due to spam.

“This was not a rugpull. The drop was caused by reckless forced closures initiated by centralized exchanges on OM account holders,” Mullin stated at the RWA Summit, according to Alphanonce.

Who’s to Blame?

While Mullin didn’t name specific exchanges, he hinted that the platform responsible for the forced closures “likely doesn’t begin with a ‘C’ or a ‘B’.” He further alleged that the liquidation occurred during low-liquidity hours, which could indicate either gross negligence or deliberate market manipulation.

“They liquidated large investors using OM as collateral during low-liquidity hours, setting off a chain reaction. A full post-mortem will be provided to clarify the incident,” he added.

However, blockchain analysts remain skeptical. According to Lookonchain, $12.6 million worth of OM was transferred to a wallet connected to venture capitalist Shane Shin just five hours before the collapse. That amount is now worth around $1.6 million.

Crypto sleuth ZachXBT criticized the transparency of MANTRA’s public wallet addresses.

Wu Blockchain also resurfaced earlier allegations that MANTRA misrepresented investment ties with FTX.

Both Binance and Laser Digital (the digital asset arm of Nomura) have denied any current involvement in OM or responsibility for the price collapse.

As the dust settles, the crypto community is waiting for clarity from Mullin’s promised post-mortem. Until then, skepticism around MANTRA’s internal operations and token mechanics is likely to persist.