MANTRA cuts staff amid restructuring as OM token remains 99% below peak

In an X post on Wednesday, MANTRA CEO John Patrick Mullin announced a company restructuring that includes an unspecified number of staff layoffs.

Mullin stated the “incredibly unfortunate and frankly unfair events of April 2025,” combined with a prolonged market downturn and increased competition, rendered the company’s cost structure “unsustainable.”

The decision impacts teams across the organization, with functions like business development, marketing, and HR affected more than others, according to the post.

The announcement follows a period of stark contraction for the real-world asset-focused Layer 1 blockchain. The total value locked in its DeFi ecosystem is now $864,857, according to DefiLlama data, representing an 81% decline from a peak of $4.51 million.

MANTRA’s OM token, with a market capitalization of approximately $92.4 million according to The Block’s MANTRA price page, continues to trade roughly 90% below its value prior to the April 2025 selloff. Overall, the token remains about 99% below its all-time high of $8.99, recorded in February 2025.

Pivot toward RWA ecosystem sustainability

In his statement, Mullin framed the cuts as a necessary shift toward capital efficiency. “To thrive in this environment and take back our market-leading position, we must become more capital-efficient and laser-focused,” he wrote.

The CEO indicated that detailed priorities and a new operating rhythm would be disclosed in the coming weeks. He expressed continued belief in the MANTRA Chain and its RWA ecosystem, asserting that with focused execution, the project would emerge stronger.

The move follows other recent platform developments. Last week, MANTRA launched mantraUSD, a stablecoin it says is backed by short-term U.S. Treasury bills and redeemable 1:1. According to its website, the stablecoin is designed as the required onchain currency for accessing a suite of RWA products within MANTRA’s DeFi ecosystem.

Concurrently, the project has reminded users of the impending deprecation of the ERC-20 version of its OM token. Holders must migrate to the native OM token on the MANTRA Chain before Jan. 15, 2026.