Mantra founder and CEO John Patrick Mullin has started unstaking 150 million of his Mantra (OM) tokens in preparation for sending them to a burn address in an attempt to restore the token’s value by tightening supply. 

Mantra announced on April 21 that the unstaking process had begun, and would be completed by April 29, at which point Mullin’s Mantra (OM) tokens will be sent to the burn address and permanently removed from circulating supply.

Source: John Patrick Mullin

Mullin said it was a “first step in rebuilding trust with the community, but far from the last.” 

Mantra said it was also in talks with “key ecosystem partners” about burning a further 150 million OM to bring the total burn amount to 300 million.

With 150 million fewer OM, Mantra’s total supply will decline to 1.67 billion, and its number of staked tokens will drop by over 26% from 571.8 million OM to 421.8 million OM. 

Returns will also be boosted: “This strategic burn will lower the bonded ratio from 31.47% to 25.30%, resulting in an increase in staking APR,” Mantra said.

Token burn initiative follows OM price collapse

Two days after Mantra’s rapid 90% price collapse on April 13, Mullins posted to X that he intended to burn all of the staked tokens he was allocated at the blockchain’s mainnet genesis in October. These vested “team tokens” were due to be unlocked starting in 2027.

He also ran a poll on X about the proposed burn of his tokens, with alternate options such as extended vesting or unlocking tokens at milestones — as a “temperature check of people’s thoughts.”

The poll had attracted almost 9,000 votes at the time of writing, and a number of commenters criticized it as an attempt to reverse course on the burn commitment. 

Source: John Patrick Mullin

The burn is connected to an “OM Token support plan” Mantra announced following the price crash, which will also feature a token buyback. Mullin said the buyback program was also “well underway.”

Related: How Mantra’s OM token collapsed in 24 hours of chaos

Mantra also released a tokenomics dashboard to increase transparency as it seeks to regain the trust of the community. 

At the time of writing, the OM price remains down around 90% from its value of $6.30 earlier in April, trading at below $0.55.

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