If you're active in crypto from 2024 & earlier, chances are, you heard about MANTRA and its token, $OM. Not because it quietly built something revolutionary, but because it delivered one of the most dramatic boom-and-bust cycles and now trying to rise from the ashes.
Early Days: 2020-2023
MANTRA’s journey actually started in a fairly unremarkable way. Back in 2020, it launched on Polkadot’s RioChain as a generic DeFi platform fighting for attention in an overcrowded market. For years, $OM traded like a forgotten asset, stuck between $0.02 and $0.15. By October 2023, it had sunk to around $0.0173, a level that practically screamed
"Nobody Cares about You"
The Evolution: From DeFi Shadow to RWA Spotlight (2024)
In mid 2024, MANTRA embraced the hottest buzzword of the cycle " RWA" & suddenly, the project was no longer an ordinary DeFi project. Partneships with with UAE giants, like MAG Group ($500M+ in real estate assets) and Zand Bank & the acquisition of crucial licenses from VARA (Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority), effectively made $OM as the "Regulated King" of RWA.
The market reacted aggressively. After the mainnet launch, $OM exploded. By the end of 2024, the token was trading near $3.83.
Ignored Project → Market Darling
The Peak: The $9 Illusion (Feb 2025)
January 2025 was pure vertical price action. Institutional adoption Narrative + Extreme speculation made OM to touch new ATH: $8.99 – $9.04 on February 23, 2025
📉 The Massacre: "Black Sunday" (April 13, 2025)
Then came the wipeout. Within hours:
Price collapsed from $6.30 → $0.37 ~92% Crash
A brutal crash that annihilated many portfolios.But Why this Crash happened?
Supply Expansion: Shortly before the crash, 888M+ new OM tokens minted, Supply doubled (890M → 1.78B)
Whale Movement:On-chain data from Arkham showed:17 large wallets(Laser Digital linked) moved 43.6M tokens to exchanges.
Liquidity Gap:
Sunday night with thin order books and heavy leverages, conditions & timings were perfect for a liquidation cascade.
⚖️ The Fallout: Lawsuits and "Damage Control"
After the crash, the team moved into damage control mode.CEO JP Mullin rejected insider selling allegations and blamed CEX liquidations.To calm investor anger, Mullin burned 150M team tokens (with ~300M total planned).
On May 6, 2025, Burwick Law launched an investigation, alleging insiders dumped before the crash and misled investors. By the end of 2025, $OM was trading around $0.069
Full Circle: Quiet beginnings → explosive success → brutal collapse → survival attempt.
🔄 The Resurrection: 2026 Migration & Rebrand
As of February 2026, MANTRA is attempting a reset. Between December 2025 and January 2026, its ERC-20 tokens were retired and migrated to the native chain. On January 19, 2026, a 1:4 redenomination went live, where 1 OM became 4 MANTRA tokens, expanding supply. On February 13, 2026, #Binance confirmed migration support. The old OM will be delisted on March 2, followed by the new #MANTRA ticker launch on March 4.
My Honest Opinion:
I don’t know whether OM / MANTRA will ever reclaim its former highs , only time can answer that. What I do know is that investors who lived through the $9 collapse haven’t forgotten. The real challenge isn’t price recovery, but whether trust can truly be rebuilt. History shows that only a handful of projects manage a genuine revival after a crash of this scale; most fade into irrelevance.
What’s your view? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.
#MarketRebound #writetoearn #EducationalContent
