Total Burn May Reach 300M OM as Supply Tightening Initiative Gains Momentum

Mantra founder and CEO John Patrick Mullin has officially begun the process of burning 150 million OM tokens, in an attempt to restore faith in the project and reduce the total token supply following a dramatic price collapse earlier this month.

The project announced on April 21 that Mullin has started unstaking the tokens, which are expected to be fully unlocked and sent to a burn address by April 29. Once completed, the move will permanently remove the tokens from circulation, reducing the total OM supply from 1.82 billion to 1.67 billion.

“This is a first step in rebuilding trust with the community, but far from the last,” said Mullin in a statement.

This is a first step in rebuilding trust with the community, but far from the last. We will share more in the coming days about our plans to ensure alignment going forward. 🫡🕉️ https://t.co/685jVsJNBA

— JP Mullin (🕉, 🏘️) (@jp_mullin888) April 21, 2025

Key Partners May Contribute to Supply Reduction

Mantra also revealed it is currently in talks with key ecosystem partners to burn an additional 150 million OM, potentially bringing the total burn to 300 million tokens.

The initial 150 million tokens being burned represent team tokens allocated to Mullin at the time of the mainnet genesis in October 2023, which were originally scheduled to unlock between 2027 and 2029.

As a result of the burn:

• The staked OM supply will drop by over 26%, from 571.8 million to 421.8 million.

• The bonded ratio will decline from 31.47% to 25.30%.

• This will lead to an increase in staking APR, due to reduced competition for rewards.

“This strategic burn will lower the bonded ratio, resulting in an increase in staking APR,” Mantra said in its announcement.

Over the past few days after stating I’ll burn all my teams tokens, I had a lot of feed back from community, investors, etc.

The whole point is that this is meant to be for the community, so would be good to get a temperature check of people’s thoughts how to implement this.

— JP Mullin (🕉, 🏘️) (@jp_mullin888) April 18, 2025

Token Burn Follows OM’s 90% Price Crash

The burn initiative is part of Mantra’s broader “OM Token Support Plan”, which also includes a token buyback program that Mullin said is already “well underway.”

The measures come in response to the 90% crash in OM’s price on April 13, which wiped billions from the token’s market value. Two days after the crash, Mullin posted to X that he would burn his entire allocation of team tokens, following growing community calls for accountability.

He also launched a poll on X asking the community whether he should burn the tokens or instead extend vesting schedules or tie unlocks to project milestones. The poll drew nearly 9,000 votes, but some community members criticized the initiative as a walk-back of the original burn commitment.

Transparency Push Includes Tokenomics Dashboard

As part of its recovery strategy, Mantra has also launched a new tokenomics dashboard, aimed at increasing transparency and governance visibility for the community.

At the time of writing, the OM token is still down over 90%, trading below $0.55, compared to its April peak of $6.30.

Final Thoughts: Symbolic Gesture or Structural Reform?

While the token burn is being framed as a community-first initiative, critics argue that burning tokens is not a substitute for deeper reforms, especially around governance, vesting schedules, and market communication.

Still, the move sends a strong signal of accountability—and could lay the foundation for a slow but steady restoration of community trust, depending on how the buyback plan, ecosystem support, and further transparency efforts unfold in the coming weeks.