Mantra Slashes Staff And Restructures Following ‘Brutal’ Om Token Collapse

What Happened

On Wednesday, Mantra CEO and co-founder John Patrick Mullin announced that the blockchain project would reduce its workforce and shift to a leaner operating model as it heads into 2026.

Going into 2024 and early 2025, Mantra had big growth plans and heavy investments to scale its RWA infrastructure, its chain, and its overall ecosystem.

A token buyback program and a public tokenomics dashboard were also introduced as part of a broader effort to improve transparency.

Market Context

Mantra is restructuring after what its leadership described as one of the most difficult periods in the project’s history, following a severe collapse in its OM token and months of sustained market pressure that have forced the company to reassess its cost structure and priorities.

The decision comes after a year marked by aggressive expansion, a brutal token drawdown, and a prolonged downturn in market sentiment toward real-world asset tokenization.

Mantra Tightens Operations Token Collapse and prolonged market pressure

In a statement shared publicly, Mullin said the restructuring would involve job cuts across several teams, with business development, marketing, HR, and support roles among those most affected.

He claimed it was done as a response to the reality of matching expenditure with short-term realities since the cost base of Mantra could not be sustained in the face of the deteriorating market conditions.

Mullin added that the company would now be directed to disciplined execution, tightening of resources, and capital efficiency as it aims at stabilizing and rebuilding.

However, Mullin said a combination of unfavorable events in April 2025, intensifying competition, and a prolonged market downturn ultimately forced the company to change course.

On April 13, the token fell from around $6.30 to below $0.50 during low-liquidity weekend trading, wiping out more than $6 billion in market capitalization within 24 hours, and triggered widespread concern across the DeFi sector.

CoinGecko data shows that OM had reached an all-time high of $8.99 in February 2025 before falling to as low as $0.59 by mid-April and remains trading roughly 99% below its peak.

He said the company remains committed to its RWA strategy and believes a leaner structure will leave it better positioned to navigate market volatility and deliver on its long-term vision as the next phase of crypto adoption unfolds.

Why It Matters

Such effort assisted in making the project one of the top Layer-1s that concentrate on tokenized real-world assets.

Mantra denied any wrongdoing at the time, attributing the crash to forced liquidations by a large token holder on a centralized exchange.

Details

Mantra Seeks Fresh Start After Cuts Back

In the aftermath of the collapse, Mantra took several steps aimed at restoring confidence, with Mullin announcing plans to burn 150 million OM tokens allocated to him at mainnet genesis, with the unstaking process completed later in April 2025.

The project’s challenges were compounded later in 2025 by a public dispute with crypto exchange OKX over the timing and structure of OM’s token migration.

Mullin accused the exchange of publishing incorrect migration dates and urged users to withdraw tokens and follow official Mantra channels instead. The dispute added to uncertainty for holders already shaken by the April collapse.

Against that backdrop, Mullin said the restructuring is designed to extend Mantra’s runway and refocus the company on execution rather than expansion.

As the company looks to the future, Mullin explained that Mantra would be more disciplined and will ship faster and push itself forward into a sustainable and profitable future.

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