Popular crypto company announces layoffs

MANTRA, a fashionable layer-1 blockchain steadfast focused connected real-world plus (RWA) tokenization, announced a company-wide restructuring connected Jan. 14.

This follows a turbulent twelvemonth marked by a crisp marketplace downturn and the illness of its autochthonal token, OM, earlier successful 2025.

In a statement on X, MANTRA co-founder and CEO John Patrick Mullin said the restructuring volition trim headcount arsenic portion of a strategical reset.

The determination is aimed astatine becoming leaner and much capital-efficient heading into 2026, helium added.

MANTRA was originally launched arsenic MANTRA DAO, a DeFi-focused platform, earlier evolving into MANTRA Chain.

Related: What is tokenization? Explained

The restructuring follows a melodramatic marketplace lawsuit connected Apr. 13, 2025, erstwhile the terms of OM fell by much than 90%, dropping to arsenic debased arsenic $0.456472.

Prior to the crash, OM had been trading good supra $6, giving the task a marketplace capitalization exceeding $6 billion.

Following the collapse, OM’s marketplace headdress fell to astir $681 million, importantly impacting the project’s fiscal presumption and marketplace perception.

Mullin said successful a station connected X that the illness was triggered by “reckless forced closures initiated by centralized exchanges connected OM relationship holders,” alleging that forced liquidations during low-liquidity conditions caused a cascading sell-off.

He held 1 centralized crypto trading speech to beryllium chiefly liable for his project's collapse, but didn't driblet immoderate names.

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According to Mullin, contempt investing heavy to standard its layer-1 blockchain, RWA tokenization infrastructure, and ecosystem growth, aggregate factors person resulted successful the restructuring.

"The incredibly unfortunate and frankly unfair events of April 2025, the prolonged marketplace downturn, accrued competition, and shifting marketplace dynamics person made our outgo operation unsustainable comparative to our near-term realities," Mullin wrote.

The restructuring affects teams crossed the organization, with concern development, marketing, HR and enactment functions seeing the largest reductions.

Mullin emphasized that the cuts are not performance-related but bespeak a narrower operational focus.

Despite the setbacks, Mullin reaffirmed assurance successful MANTRA Chain.

"I profoundly judge successful what we’re building. I judge successful the imaginable of MANTRA Chain, our RWA ecosystem, and the relation we’ll play successful the adjacent signifier of crypto adoption," helium added.