On Sunday, Mantra lost 90%, traders lost millions, and now critics are calling for foul play. What caused this, and what’s the truth behind the collapse?
And beyond that, what are the best altcoins to buy as traders seek safe-haven investments?
Mantra Sees 90% Selloff, Losing $5B MC
Mantra was a rising star, but investors’ dreams have been shattered with the $OM price.
It was up over 6,000%, making it one of the best-performing cryptocurrencies year-on-year. Yet, it wasn’t just price action that traders were excited about.
The project’s focus on regulatory compliant real-world asset (RWA) tokenization positioned it at the forefront of one of crypto’s most promising narratives.
It was less than one month ago that Larry Fink, CEO of $11.5 trillion asset manager BlackRock, wrote “every stock, every bond, every fund – every asset – can be tokenized.”
Yet, what once stood as the largest and most promising player in the RWA sector has just dealt another major blow to the crypto industry’s credibility.
Mantra was trading at $6.3 24 hours ago. Now, it trades at $0.69.
It’s bouncing between an 89% and 90% selloff, and has given little relief thus far.
This cataclysmic decline has wiped over $5 billion from the Mantra market cap, taking it from a top-20 cryptocurrency to the 82nd largest.
Mantra Founder Blames Exchanges
The autopsy on exactly what happened is still underway – fingers are being pointed in different directions.
But let’s start with the first culprit: the Mantra team. Rumors are circulating that the Mantra team controlled approximately 90% of the $OM supply, having invested through stealth wallets on the project’s ascent. According to the rumors, this allowed them to squash selling pressure while positively impacting the price with buy orders.
Critics believe that the Mantra team took profits in over-the-counter (OTC) deals to avoid upsetting their meticulous supply-and-demand dynamics.
A popular X account by TrimBot called this “pure market manipulation.”
However, Mantra Founder John Patrick Mullin has reacted to the allegations, shifting the blame from the team to the exchanges. He claims “that the OM market movements were triggered by reckless forced closures initiated by centralized exchanges on $OM account holders.”
The founder says “timing and depth of the crash suggest that a very sudden closure of account positions was initiated without sufficient warning or notice.”
He continued by stating that the fact that “this happened during low-liquidity hours,” which, “points to a degree of negligence at best, or possibly intentional market positioning taken by centralized exchanges.”
Right now, it’s difficult to say whether the crash was caused by Mantra insiders, poorly managed liquidity on centralized exchanges, or a combination of both.
However, one thing worth underlining here is that it’s not the first time centralized exchanges have been under fire. Binance and OKX were recently alleged to have sabotaged rival exchange Hyperliquid by manipulating the price of a cryptocurrency called Jelly.
Binance was also accused of manipulating $ETH and $SOL prices last month.
So with Mantra out the picture, and a real possibility that centralized exchanges shoudn’t be trusted, let’s look how traders can best navigate the current market conditions.
Best Altcoins to Buy as Mantra Crashes
Best Wallet Token could prove one of the smartest investments right now. It’s a multchain crypto wallet with a range of built-in features.
One worth a special mention is its cross-chain decentralized exchange. This DEX acts just like a centralized exchange – but without the manipulation.
And unlike most DEXes, which support one or a small handful of blockchains, Best DEX allows you to swap any token on over 60 blockchains. It also aggregates prices from other 200 other exchanges to always provide the most value for money.
Since Best Wallet is multichain, it removes the exposure risk of a crypto which is only built for one blockchain. Best Wallet Token is more like a diversified bet on the crypto industry.
Other features include a built-in crypto debit card, a presale aggregator, a staking aggregator, derivatives trading, an NFT gallery, a portfolio manager, and advanced fraud protection. Binance certainly doens’t offer that.
And adding to the excitement, it’s currently undergoing a presale, where it has raised $11.6 million so far. This early stage gives $BEST presale buyers maximum upside potential.
On the other end of the spectrum, Fartcoin also looks promising. This is because strips away all the complexities of crypto and presents only a light-hearted meme for traders to speculate on.
The beauty of meme coins is that they make no promises. Investors know their high risk, so if they do crash it hurts less than when a seemingly legitimate project like Mantra crashes.
Traders understand this and flocked to the project last Monday when all other assets crashed – ranging from stocks to gold.
This drew attention from top TradFi experts, such as Bloomberg Senior ETF Analyst Eric Blachunas, who normally only focuses on serious assets such as Bitcoin and stock market indices.
Fartcoin has been a top performer this week with over a 90% pump. However, the decline of Mantra could potentially drive more users out of traditional utility coins and into meme coins, which will further benefit the project.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not provide financial advice. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile, and the market can be unpredictable. Always perform thorough research before making any cryptocurrency-related decisions.