Mantra Restructures, Cuts Employees After OM Token Collapse

Replace Jan. 14, 2:20 pm UTC: This text has been up to date so as to add feedback from Manta CEO John Patrick Mullin.

Mantra, a blockchain mission centered on real-world property (RWAs), is restructuring its operations after what its management described as essentially the most troublesome yr within the firm’s historical past, marked by a pointy token collapse and extended market stress.

On Wednesday, Manta CEO John Patrick Mullin announced that the corporate would transition to a leaner and extra capital-efficient construction following a interval of enlargement. The modifications embrace job cuts throughout a number of groups and a streamlining of operations to raised match near-term market situations.

“I take full accountability for these choices and for the trail that led us right here,” Mullin wrote. “I do know that is an extremely difficult state of affairs, notably for these immediately impacted, for his or her households, and for everybody at MANTRA. I am particularly sorry to these leaving us.”

Mullin stated the restructuring was pushed primarily by a broader strategic reset fairly than a slender give attention to value discount.

He informed Cointelegraph that whereas downsizing would decrease bills and lengthen the runway, the core motivation was to sharpen execution and focus assets on areas the place Matra sees the strongest long-term alternatives.

“This hasn’t modified our core RWA technique within the slightest. If something, we’re doubling down on it,” Mullin informed Cointelegraph, including that they’re prioritizing their layer-1 chain, mantraUSD, and Mantra Finance.

Token collapse and extended market stress

The restructuring follows a steep decline in Mantra’s OM token that started early final yr.

According to CoinGecko, the OM token reached an all-time excessive of $8.99 on Feb. 23, 2025, earlier than collapsing sharply to $0.59 by April 15. It stays round 99% beneath its earlier excessive earlier than the collapse.

On April 30, Mantra linked the OM crash to aggressive leverage insurance policies on centralized exchanges, warning that liquidation cascades posed systemic dangers to crypto initiatives.

On the time, Mullin stated that the incident was larger than Mantra and known as on exchanges to reassess how leverage is utilized to native tokens.

Following the crash, Mantra introduced a collection of governance and transparency measures, together with validator decentralization efforts, the launch of a real-time tokenomics dashboard and the burning of 150 million staked OM tokens to scale back provide.

Regardless of these measures, the extended downturn continued to weigh on the mission’s funds. Mullin acknowledged that Mantra’s value base had change into unsustainable given present market situations, prompting the choice to chop employees and slender its focus.

Associated: MarketVector launches stablecoin and RWA tokenization indexes, ETFs

Alternate tensions and a narrower path ahead

The restructuring additionally comes after months of strained relations between the corporate and crypto trade OKX.

On Dec. 8, Mullin urged OM holders to withdraw their tokens from OKX, alleging inaccurate data associated to a token migration. OKX disputed the claims, saying it had proof suggesting coordinated market exercise earlier than the April crash.

Mullin stated the layoffs disproportionately affected enterprise improvement, advertising, human assets and different help features, as the corporate concentrates assets on core execution.