In what cryptocurrency veterans are calling "the most expensive bonfire since the Fyre Festival," Mantra founder and CEO John Patrick Mullin has begun unstaking 150 million of his OM tokens, preparing to send them to a blockchain graveyard from which they'll never return.
The dramatic token-burning ceremony, announced on April 21, comes in response to Mantra's not-so-magical disappearing act on April 13, when the token price collapsed by 90% faster than you can say "tokenomics disaster."
Mullin described the mass token incineration as a "first step in rebuilding trust with the community, but far from the last" – leaving crypto Twitter to speculate wildly about what other sacrificial offerings might be forthcoming. Perhaps a ritual dance? Blood moon ceremony? The possibilities are endless when you're down 90%.
The Great OM Fire of 2025
The unstaking process will complete by April 29, at which point Mullin's tokens will be permanently removed from circulation – much like investors removed themselves from the Mantra project after the price collapse.
Not content with merely torching his own holdings, Mullin is reportedly convincing "key ecosystem partners" to join his crypto cremation service, potentially burning an additional 150 million OM tokens. Nothing says "team building exercise" quite like collectively destroying $150 million worth of digital assets.
With 150 million fewer OM tokens in existence, Mantra's total supply will shrink to 1.67 billion, while staked tokens will drop by over 26%. The project helpfully notes this will "increase staking APR" – offering the remaining brave souls a slightly larger slice of a dramatically smaller pie.
When in Doubt, Poll It Out
Just two days after watching his token perform its impression of a falling piano, Mullin took to X to announce his intention to burn all his staked tokens, which were originally scheduled to unlock in 2027. Perhaps sensing that the market wasn't feeling particularly patient, he decided immediate immolation was the better strategy.
In a move that absolutely didn't backfire at all, Mullin also created a poll asking community members whether they preferred the token burn, extended vesting, or milestone-based unlocking – essentially asking "How would you like me to handle these tokens that just lost 90% of their value?"
The poll, which attracted almost 9,000 votes, was immediately criticized as an attempt to backpedal on the burn commitment. Nothing restores investor confidence quite like a CEO crowdsourcing crisis management decisions!
Dashboard to Disaster
To further demonstrate its commitment to transparency, Mantra has released a tokenomics dashboard – allowing users to watch in real-time as various metrics continue to plummet.
Despite the token inferno and a buyback program that Mullin assures everyone is "well underway," OM's price remains stubbornly down around 90% from its early April high of $6.30, now trading below $0.55.
As the crypto community watches this unfolding drama, one thing seems certain: in the battle between tokenomics and gravity, gravity continues its undefeated streak.
HODL Team
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