A $26.96 million transfer of OM tokens from Mantra DAO to Binance has triggered widespread fear among investors, especially since the move closely followed a 90% price crash. From a daily high of $6.28, OM collapsed to $0.7192, erasing billions in market value in a matter of hours.

Given that Mantra’s team controls 90% of the token supply, observers quickly raised red flags about possible insider dumping.

Mantra CEO Says Team Didn’t Sell

JP Mullin, CEO of Mantra DAO, denied all allegations of insider selling. He claimed the crash was the result of cascading liquidations triggered by sudden price volatility—common in highly leveraged crypto markets.

Despite this, on-chain investigator Max Brown flagged a separate 3.9 million OM token transfer to OKX before the crash, fueling suspicions further. These tokens could have been sold, but since centralized exchange activity is opaque, it’s impossible to verify on-chain.

Binance and OKX Disagree on Cause

Binance backed the CEO’s claims, stating that forced liquidations appear to be the main reason behind the market crash. However, OKX presented a different view, suggesting that sudden changes in OM’s tokenomics and significant exchange inflows could have played a role in the decline.

This contradiction has left investors confused and wary of the project’s internal operations.

Liquidity Risks and Centralization Warning Signs

The OM debacle illustrates how quickly things can go south for projects with thin liquidity and concentrated ownership. A handful of large token movements—whether intended for sale or not—can destabilize the entire market.

While OM has rebounded slightly, the damage to investor trust is already done. Moving forward, Mantra DAO will need to address its governance structure and increase transparency to avoid similar blowback.