Mantra CEO John Mullin has recently announced plans to burn all the team-held tokens to rebuild trust with the community after the Mantra (OM) token came crashing down, similar to the Terra Luna Crash, on April 13.
“I’m planning to burn all of my team tokens and when we turn it around the community and investors can decide if I have earned it back,” Mullin posted to X on April 16.
Mantra had reserved 300 million OM tokens, that is about 16.88% of its total supply for its team and core contributors. The tokens were locked and were planned to be released in stages gradually between April 2027 and October 2029, as per a blog post from April 8.
The team’s tokens are now worth about $236 million with OM trading at $0.78. However, before the crash on April 13, the tokens were worth around $1.89 billion. OM’s price saw a sharp drop from $6.30 to as low as $0.52, wiping out over $5.5 billion in value.
Criticisms Over Token Burn Plan
While some in the community members backed Mullin’s plan to burn the team tokens, others were worried that it could hurt the team’s motivation in the long run. Crypto Banter’s founder Ran Neuner noted that while the ‘incentive’ might seem like a good gesture, it could weaken the team’s drive to build the project. However Mullin suggested that the decision could be made through a community vote.
A Post-Mortem Report To Be Released
Mullin promised to release a post-mortem report of what went wrong in order to ensure transparency with the community. Mullin also shared plans to use Mantra’s $109 million Ecosystem Fund for the possible token buybacks and burns to help stabilize OM’s price after it crashed.
MANTRA has all along denied any rumors that it controls 90% of the OM tokens or it was involved in insider trading or market manipulation. Instead it noted that the crash was due to ‘reckless liquidations’. Crypto exchanges Binance and OKX witnessed massive OM activity before the crash, but denied any wrongdoing. They pointed out to past tokenomics and extreme volatility that led to massive liquidations.
Mullin also thanked the community for its support after the crash. He shared with the community that Mantra has weathered multiple market cycles and will keep building even through this one. He also addressed the losses faced by traders and also praised long-term investors like Shorooq Partners and Laser Digital for their continued support and openness with the community.
