Coin Market

Mantra CEO says OM token recovery ‘primary concern’ but in early stages

Published

1 week ago

April 14, 2025

Mantra CEO John Mullin addressed key concerns from the community following the sharp decline in the OM token during an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session hosted by Cointelegraph on April 14.

Mullin reassured users that Mantra and its partners are actively working to support the recovery of the Mantra (OM) token, though he noted that details around token buybacks and potential burns are still being developed.

“We’re still in the early stages of putting together this plan for potential buyback of tokens,” the CEO said, adding that the OM token recovery is Mantra’s “preeminent and primary concern right now.”

At the time of writing, OM traded at $0.73, slightly higher than its post-collapse low of $0.52 recorded on April 13 at around 7:30 pm UTC, according to data from CoinGecko.

“Baseless allegations”

In addition to denying reports claiming that key Mantra investors dumped the OM token pre-crash, the Mantra CEO also denied allegations that the Mantra team controls 90% of the token’s supply.

“I think it’s baseless. We posted a community transparency report last week, and it shows all the different wallets,” Mullin said, highlighting the “two sides” of Mantra’s tokenomics.

Source: Cointelegraph

“You have the Ethereum side and you have the mainnet side,” Mullin noted, adding the Ethereum-based token is hard capped and has been around since August 2020.

“The biggest holder of OM on exchange is Binance,” Mullin continued, referring the public to Etherscan records.

The top eight addresses of OM holdings. Source: Etherscan

However, the top OM wallet is currently held by crypto exchange OKX, which controls 14% of the circulating supply, or roughly 130 million tokens.

What’s next for Mantra’s $109-million MEF fund?

Mullin also addressed the Mantra Ecosystem Fund (MEF), a $109-million fund launched on April 7 in collaboration with its major strategic investors, including Laser Digital and Shorooq.

Other investors in the fund also included Brevan Howard Digital, Valor Capital, Three Point Capital, Amber Group, Manifold, UoB Venture, Damac, Fuse, LVNA Capital, Forte and others.

According to Mullin, the fund does not solely consist of Mantra’s OM token and has “dollar commitments and dollar contributions.”

Investors in Mantra’s $109-million fund. Source: Mantra

“We’ll continue to invest and support the ecosystem as part of this recovery plan,” the CEO stated.

End of the staking program on Binance

In the AMA, the Mantra CEO also said that a 38-million-OM transaction to the Binance cold wallet on April 14 is related to a staking program on Binance.

“It was actually Binance,” Mullin said, adding that Binance had OM tokens on its exchange that it was using as a staking program.

Source: Onchain Lens

“So, they just returned them because the staking program ended,” he said.

Mullin also emphasized that many of the transactions that caught the community’s reactions post-crash involved collaterals by an unnamed exchange.

“Effectively, those tokens were being used as collateral on an exchange. Then, the exchange decided that it was not the position they wanted to maintain anymore, for whatever reason,” Mullin said, adding:

“So, what happened was basically the positions were taken over by the exchange that took the collateral and started selling, which caused a cascade of sell pressure and forced more liquidations.”

Mullin said Mantra remains committed to addressing the situation as transparently as possible.

“We’re not running from anything,” he said, adding that the incident was a “very unfortunate situation.”

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Coin Market

Shaquille O’Neal reaches settlement in FTX lawsuit, terms remain secret

Published

12 minutes ago

April 24, 2025

Shaquille O’Neal has settled with investors who claim losses from the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, according to an April 23 filing in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

The settlement amount remains confidential, with terms expected to be disclosed after investors formally request preliminary court approval, according to court documents.

O’Neal and other celebrities and athletes were accused of promoting FTX and allegedly contributing to investor losses by endorsing the now-bankrupt exchange.

Source: Court Listener

The case is part of a broader multidistrict litigation effort, where investors are seeking up to $21 billion in damages from FTX insiders, advisers and promoters, far exceeding the $9.2 billion available through bankruptcy proceedings.

Other celebrities embroiled in similar legal troubles for their roles in FTX include NFL quarterback Tom Brady, supermodel Gisele Bündchen, billionaire investor Kevin O’Leary, former NBA player Udonis Haslem, David Ortiz, Naomi Osaka and others.

Notably, FTX investors faced challenges in serving O’Neal with legal papers during the early stages of the lawsuit over his promotion of the collapsed exchange.

Lawyers representing the victims described O’Neal as “running from the lawsuit,” after multiple failed attempts to deliver court documents. Legal teams reportedly spent months trying to reach the NBA legend, resorting to creative methods, including attempting service during NBA games and at his residences.

O’Neal finalizes $11 million settlement over Astrals NFT project

The settlement with FTX investors comes as O’Neal recently agreed to pay $11 million to resolve a class-action lawsuit tied to his involvement in the Solana-based Astrals NFT project.

In May 2023, O’Neal was served with the Astral NFT lawsuit during an NBA game at Miami’s Kaseya Center, formerly the FTX Arena. The class-action lawsuit involved his promotion of the Astrals NFT project, alleging that the NFTs promoted by O’Neal were unregistered securities.

In August 2024, a Miami federal court judge ruled that O’Neal would need to defend some of the claims brought against him in the case.

Astrals is a Solana-based project featuring 10,000 NFTs, a metaverse called Astralworld and a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) with a governance token called Galaxy.

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Coin Market

Bitcoin exchange outflows mimic 2023 as whales buy retail 'panic'

Published

12 minutes ago

April 24, 2025

Key points:

Bitcoin exchange 100-day average netflows are at their most negative since the start of the current bull market in 2023.

Exchange balances continue to plumb new multiyear lows.

Whales are particularly active buyers this month, while retail shows classic “panic selling.”

Bitcoin (BTC) exchanges are evoking the end of the 2022 crypto bear market as user inflows dry up this year.

Data from onchain analytics platform CryptoQuant reveals exchanges’ average net flows hitting two-year records.

Bitcoin analysis eyes “reaccumulation of assets”

Bitcoin may be trading significantly higher than at the start of 2023, but demand for BTC among exchange users is reminiscent of the start of a bull market.

CryptoQuant reveals that the 100-day simple moving average (SMA) of exchange net flows recently hit its most negative figure in two years.

“This essentially indicates the highest Bitcoin outflow from exchanges since that date,” contributor CryptoOnChain commented in one of its “Quicktake” blog posts on April 23.

“A review of historical patterns suggests that this could imply re-accumulation of assets by investors.”Bitcoin exchange netflow 100-day SMA. Source: CryptoQuant

A negative net flow tally indicates outflows from exchange surpassing inflows, reflecting more user demand than a desire to send BTC to exchange accounts for a potential sale.

As Cointelegraph reported, overall exchange BTC balances are at their lowest in many years.

CryptoQuant shows reserves hitting 2.535 million BTC in early April, down over 7% from 2.740 million BTC at the start of the year.

Bitcoin exchange reserve. Source: CryptoQuant

Whales buy while retail exits

Elsewhere, larger Bitcoin entities have added to their portion of the supply throughout April — even as smaller retail investors sell.

“Whales (1k-10k balance) have been accumulating hard since March, even as price slid,” crypto analyst Miles Deutscher noted on X this week alongside CryptoQuant data.

“Every time prices drop, whales accumulate into retail panic selling.”Bitcoin 1K BTC+ balance data. Source: Miles Deutscher/X

Research firm Santiment drew similar conclusions about entities holding at least 10 BTC, which it referred to as “key stakeholders.”

“Bitcoin’s key stakeholders comprised of wallets holding between 10 & 10K BTC currently hold 67.77% of the entire supply of crypto’s top market cap asset,” an X post reported.

“During the April volatility, these wallets continue to accumulate, and have now added over 53.6K BTC since March 22nd.”Bitcoin 10 BTC+ balance data. Source: Santiment/X

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Coin Market

Upbit and Bithumb suspend Synthetix token deposits, citing sUSD risks

Published

12 minutes ago

April 24, 2025

South Korean exchanges Upbit and Bithumb have suspended deposits for Synthetix (SNX) tokens after it was flagged by the Digital Asset Exchange Alliance (DAXA) for potential risks.

DAXA, the self-regulatory organization establishing industry standards for South Korean exchanges, designated SNX as a cautionary item.

Assets receiving this designation typically undergo rigorous evaluations to determine whether trading can continue or if delisting is necessary.

Exchanges may take action, such as adding a warning tag to the asset and urging investors to take caution when engaging with it. Trading platforms can also perform additional measures, like blocking deposits or suspending trading support temporarily.

Upbit and Bithumb block SNX deposits

In response to the designation, the biggest exchanges in South Korea said they are blocking deposits for SNX tokens on their platforms.

Upbit announced that it had added a trading caution ticker and suspended token deposits. The exchange said it had been monitoring the developments related to the Synthetix USD (sUSD) depegging. It added that this event may damage investors through potential volatility, as SNX is used as collateral for sUSD.

The exchange added that it had determined a lack of use cases for the asset, which may cause investors to suffer losses. Upbit said it would conduct a comprehensive review to decide whether to delist the asset or resume normal operations for the token.

Bithumb has also blocked deposits for SNX and added a cautionary tag for the token. However, the exchange said this decision could be overturned depending on internal circumstances. If the reason for the designation is resolved, Bithumb said it would lift the restrictions.

Korbit and Coinone also published investor alerts to caution traders. The two exchanges added cautionary tags to SNX tokens to alert investors who may want to trade the token.

Cointelegraph reached out to Synthetix for comment but did not get a response by publication.

sUSD struggles to recover dollar peg

On April 10, the sUSD stablecoin dropped to a five-year low of $0.83 after struggling to maintain its dollar peg in the first quarter of 2025. With the stablecoin being collateralized by the project’s native asset, Cork Protocol co-founder Rob Schmitt compared the token to Terra USD (UST), which collapsed in 2022. However, Schmitt said that sUSD has a “more manageable” debt system.

On April 18, the stablecoin dipped further to $0.68, with SNX falling by 26% in a 30-day period. A Synthetix spokesperson told Cointelegraph that their team has short, medium and long-term plans to mitigate the risks.

On April 21, Synthetix founder Kain Warwick threatened SNX stakers with “the stick” if they didn’t take up a newly launched staking mechanism to fix the sUSD depeg. The executive said they may put extra pressure on stakers if they don’t see enough momentum on the newly implemented mechanism.

Since the warning, sUSD prices increased by 27%. On April 24, the stablecoin briefly reached $0.87. However, the token has still failed to recover its dollar peg.

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