Mantra CEO Begins Burning 150M OM Tokens Amid Push to Restore Confidence

Mantra CEO Begins Burning 150M OM Tokens in Major Supply Reduction Effort

John Patrick Mullin, founder and CEO of the blockchain platform Mantra, has begun the process of burning 150 million OM tokens as part of a major effort to restore community trust and revive the token's value after a dramatic collapse earlier this month.

In a post on April 21, Mantra confirmed that Mullin had started unstaking the tokens, which were allocated to him during the platform’s mainnet genesis in October. These tokens will be fully unstaked by April 29, at which point they will be sent to a burn address — permanently removing them from circulation.

Source: John Patrick Mullin

"This is the first step in rebuilding trust with the community, but far from the last," Mullin said, emphasizing that the move is part of a broader recovery strategy following the token's recent volatility.

300 Million OM to Be Burned in Total

Mantra is also in discussions with key ecosystem partners to burn an additional 150 million OM, potentially bringing the total burned supply to 300 million tokens. If completed, this would reduce Mantra's total supply from 1.82 billion to 1.67 billion OM.

The token burn will also have a direct impact on staking economics. According to Mantra, the total number of staked tokens will drop from 571.8 million to 421.8 million — a reduction of over 26%. This will, in turn, lower the bonded ratio from 31.47% to 25.30%, which is expected to increase the annual percentage rate (APR) for stakers.

Burn Follows OM’s 90% Price Collapse

This initiative comes in response to a massive 90% drop in the OM token's price on April 13, when it plunged from around $6.30 to below $0.55. In the aftermath, Mullin publicly committed to burning his allocation of “team tokens,” which were initially scheduled to unlock starting in 2027.

Source: John Patrick Mullin

He also launched a poll on X (formerly Twitter) seeking community feedback on potential alternatives, such as extended vesting periods or milestone-based unlocking. While the poll drew nearly 9,000 votes, it also attracted criticism from some community members who viewed it as an attempt to walk back on the burn commitment.

Recovery Plan and Transparency Push

The burn is part of Mantra’s broader “OM Token Support Plan,” which also includes a token buyback program that Mullin says is already "well underway." As part of the effort to restore confidence, the platform recently released a tokenomics dashboard to improve transparency around token distribution and project governance.

At the time of writing, OM is trading at around $0.55 — still down significantly from earlier this month, but the burn and buyback initiatives could signal the start of a more stable recovery.

With trust shaken and the token’s market standing under pressure, Mantra's leadership appears to be betting on supply reduction and community engagement as key steps toward regaining momentum.