All About the $6 Billion OM Token Crash: Was This an Inside Job?

In what was a major shocker to the entire industry, the OM token crashed by 93% in just 30 minutes yesterday, wiping out more than $6 billion in value. It caught the crypto world completely off guard – one moment it was flying high, and the next, it was in freefall.

The collapse is already being compared to the infamous Terra Luna crash, and investors are left asking: was this just bad luck, or something more sinister? From mysterious wallet movements to deleted chats and sudden sell-offs, there’s a lot that doesn’t quite add up.

Here’s a deep dive into what really happened, what the red flags were, and why the OM meltdown might be one of the biggest crypto scandals of the year.

Warning Signs Were There — But Ignored

According to the community, the signs were there long before the crash, but they were overlooked. Crypto Jargon shared a detailed thread on X, breaking down exactly what happened, and whether there’s any chance investors can recover their losses.

On April 13, 2025, OM was trading at $6.70 with a market cap of $5.8 billion. But by 6:00 PM UTC, it had dropped to just $0.37 — a massive 93% drop in less than an hour. While some traders made big profits by shorting OM, most were blindsided. So, what exactly triggered this crash?

Odd Tweets and Sudden Silence

At 2:00 PM UTC — just hours before the crash — OM co-founder Mullin tweeted, “No wifi, will be offline for a bit.” Then, four hours later, the price started to freefall. Later that evening, MANTRA’s official Telegram channel was deleted without explanation.

Even more suspicious, on April 12 — a day before the crash — 3.9 million OM tokens were sent to the crypto exchange OKX. The crash itself was triggered by around $66.97 million in forced liquidations over 12 hours. However, deeper problems had been building up for months.

For example, the team controls roughly 90% of the token supply — giving them major influence over the market.

Airdrop Issues and Investor Frustration

Investor confidence had already taken a hit.

Just a month earlier, OM’s airdrop blacklisted over 50% of participating wallets, claiming they were bots — without showing any evidence. On top of that, the unlocking schedule kept changing: from an initial 20% unlock, to 0.3% per day, and then to a 10% unlock with vesting until 2027. These constant changes left investors confused and frustrated.

Market Manipulation? Suspicious Moves Before the Crash

Concerns were growing as market makers were allegedly pushing OM’s price up artificially. Airdrops kept getting delayed, and many feared a price dump was coming. In the days before the crash, on-chain data showed that 17 wallets had sent 43.6 million OM (worth about $227 million) to exchanges — about 4.5% of the total supply.

Laser Digital denied any involvement in token sales on OKX. Shorooq Investors also denied selling and pointed to large-scale forced liquidations as the cause, based on blockchain data.

Meanwhile, Mullin disputed data from Arkham Intelligence, claiming that the wallets accused of selling were “mislabeled.” He also referenced a transparency report from April 8 listing verified wallet addresses.

Mass Panic Selling

The panic really started when $3.9 million worth of OM showed up on OKX. This triggered fear of a major sell-off. Some insiders reportedly sold large amounts of tokens over-the-counter (OTC) at a 50% discount. These tokens were then dumped right after the crash, worsening the situation. Stop-loss orders were triggered, leveraged positions got liquidated, and short sellers profited.

In just one hour, OM lost 93% of its value. Over $5.5 billion in market cap disappeared. The situation quickly reminded many of the LUNA crash. MANTRA’s Telegram channel vanished, leaving behind a chilling final message: “LUNA 2.0.” With no official communication, investors were left in the dark.

So, Who’s to Blame?

The MANTRA team claimed the crash was due to wider market pressure and centralized exchanges closing positions, which led to a chain reaction of liquidations. OKX added that the sell-off started with increased trading volume and early price drops on exchanges outside of OKX, before spreading more broadly. On April 14, OKX warned that OM’s tokenomics had changed a lot since October 2024 and flagged suspicious activity on several exchanges.

Rumors of a rug pull quickly spread. Some traders feared the developers would abandon the project. Market investor Gordon even said this could be the biggest rug pull since LUNA and FTX. But MANTRA executives strongly denied this and shared wallet addresses to prove that the team’s tokens were still locked.

“To be clear, this dislocation was not caused by the team, the MANTRA Chain Association, its core advisors, or MANTRA’s investors selling tokens. Tokens remain locked and subject to the published vesting periods,” the team stated in their community update.

What’s Next for OM?

As of now, OM is trading between $0.65 and $0.80, but the trading volume is still low. Investor trust has taken a major hit. On top of that, 1.2 million OM was recently moved to an unknown wallet, sparking fears of more dumping.

Exchanges like HTX and Poloniex have reduced trading options for OM, while Binance has issued a warning to users. Meanwhile, Dubai’s crypto regulator VARA is now investigating MANTRA’s license after receiving multiple complaints.

OKX’s CEO called the situation a “major scandal,” pointing out the lack of transparency despite everything being on-chain. Just two months ago, OM had hit an all-time high of $9.04 and was up 825% year-on-year, even as the rest of the crypto market struggled.

OM was seen as a rising star in the Real-World Asset (RWA) space — but now, it’s hanging by a thread. And unlike LUNA, OM hasn’t shown any signs of recovery yet.