- Mantra investors denied OM token dumping allegations despite blockchain evidence.
- Laser Digital and Shorooq Partners rejected links to the large OM transfers before the crash.
- Binance and OKX blamed the OM crash on cross-exchange liquidations, not insider selling.
Blockchain intelligence firms have provided evidence of mantra investors dumping OM tokens. Still, we believe that mantra investors denied these allegations of dumping OM tokens at the time of the OM tokens’ crash.
Mantra’s strategic backers, such as Laser Digital, have denied the claim made by an anonymous user on X that they transferred $41.6 million worth of tokens to OKX before the OM price drop. Before the collapse, the major Mantra investors recently flagged a huge stream of token transfers flagged by blockchain analysts.
On-chain data indicates that Mantra’s strategic investor, Laser Digital, appeared to dump some OM tokens before the token’s collapse on April 13. According to Lookonchain, among at least 17 wallets that together transferred 43.6 million OM tokens, or $227 million in value at the time, to exchanges before the crash, two belonged to Laser Digital wallets. Nevertheless, Laser Digital contradicted the findings, claiming the wallets in question were not connected to the firm.
Millions in OM Tokens Moved to Binance and OKX
In May 2024, Mantra had a strategic investment from a digital asset division called Laser Digital, a team of Digital Assets Investment backed by the financial giant Nomura.
According to Arkham data, Laser Digital had reportedly linked a wallet that transferred around 6.5 million OM tokens ($41.6 million) to OKX in 7 separate transactions from April 11.
CoinGecko data shows that the last transaction of that wallet occurred around 10:00 p.m. UTC on April 11, two days before OM crashed on April 13 around 7:00 p.m. UTC.
The tokens are thought to have been transferred to Binance from another wallet belonging to Laser Digital, indicating another portion of the roughly 13 million (or 2.2 million OM tokens) moved to the exchange starting April 3.
The analysis also indicates that Laser Digital may have started reducing its OM exposure in February. Earlier this year, the wallets were granted large OM allocations from a crypto trading firm known as GSR.
However, Laser Digital has denied the allegations, insisting that it played no part in the OM token’s volatility and that the named wallets that have made the claims do not belong to the company.
On April 14, the firm said in an X post that ‘Laser has no involvement in the recent $OM price collapse.’ The company also noted that ‘assertions that link Laser to ‘Investor selling’ circulating on social media are factually incorrect and misleading.’
Other Mantra Investors Active Before Crash
We also identified other Mantra investors taking the tokens up during the crash.
According to Lookonchain, just hours before the crash, one of the wallets on Shin’s Shorooq Partners list received 2 million OM tokens on April 13 at 11:52 a.m. UTC.
Lookonchain’s report noted that the 2.75 million OM tokens were only sent to this wallet in April 2024.
On April 7, Shorooq Partners and Laser Digital were part of the announced $109 million Mantra Ecosystem Fund (MEF).
Shorooq representative said, however, that the firm is an equity investor, not a token investor, in Mantra. “The spokesperson said that this essentially means that our focus is on the growth of the project in the long run.”
Binance Attributes OM Crash to “Cross-Exchange Liquidations”
However, before and during the crash, there was significant OM token activity on OKX and Binance; thus, OKX and Binance both sent out statements on the situation.
And in his own words, OKX founder Star Xu called it a ‘big scandal to the whole crypto industry’. Mantra CEO John Mullin claimed the cryptocurrency’s downfall was due to a “corrupt” exchange, but Binance said “cross-exchange liquidations” were a big factor.
On April 14, Binance stated that our initial findings suggest that the past day’s events were due to cross-exchange liquidations.
In a subsequent update, OKX mentioned that Mantra’s tokenomics drastically changed in October 2024 and OM illicit activity occurred on several exchanges.
