The Mantra (OM) coin experienced a massive crash, wiping out approximately 6 trillion KRW (around $4.5 billion USD) in market capitalization in a single day.
The all-time high was about $9.1 per coin , but it plummeted to $0.017 (roughly 20 KRW), collapsing by over 90% before recovering slightly.
The crash began around 3 a.m. KST, and within minutes, 10 trillion KRW worth of funds evaporated from the market, triggering a cascade of leveraged liquidations.
By 3:50 a.m., a significant price discrepancy emerged between centralized and decentralized exchanges, with signs that a large volume of tokens had been dumped somewhere.
After 4 a.m., the community went into chaos, and panic spread uncontrollably.
What fueled suspicion was unusual fund movements just before the crash.
Approximately 105 billion KRW worth (67.85 million) of OM tokens were moved from a Binance-related wallet, and 27 billion KRW worth (3.9 million) OM tokens were deposited into the OKX exchange.
Right before the crash, rumors surfaced in the community about OM tokens being transferred via OTC (over-the-counter) deals from a Chinese address.
When the market price subsequently tanked by over 50%, these rumors gained credibility.
Some entities believed to have bought those tokens also suffered losses due to the unexpectedly rapid crash.
If even these players took a hit, it naturally raised suspicions that someone sold off and exited early.
At the same time, there were signs of forced liquidations in short positions, which often indicates that someone with market knowledge or an algorithm placed both long and short leveraged bets at precise timings to profit.
All these events unfolded within a few hours before the crash, with the timing aligning so perfectly that the community strongly suspects it wasn’t a coincidence but rather insider trading.
While the exact cause remains unclear, the community is rife with theories:
A. Did the team secretly unlock (sold) restricted tokens?
B. Did the market maker (bot stabilizing prices) malfunction?
C. Was there a hack or system breach?
D. Did a flood of governance NFTs suddenly hit the market?
E. Did the team pull a rug-pull and vanish?
The Mantra team officially stated, “It’s not our fault. It’s just a market liquidation,” but prominent chain analyst ZachXBT publicly criticized them, saying, “A 90% crash? Does that even make sense?”
The issue didn’t stop there. Mantra’s collapse rippled through the market, affecting other coins and causing secondary damage, shaking up foreign capital and institutional portfolios tied to market indices.
Based on the evidence so far, it seems less like a simple price drop and more like a structurally serious incident.
However, the team denies everything, and the community continues to debate what the truth really is.
A victim who lost $15 million overnight.
The most dangerous thought right now is this:
“Mantra coin is cheap now, so should I buy?”
Personally, I’d advise against it.
A 90% crash isn’t an opportunity—it’s a death certificate for market trust.
Jumping in just because it’s “cheap” and might “go up,” without analyzing why it crashed or whether the structure can recover, is no different from a gambling addict’s final bet.
