MANTRA Cuts Employees to Stay on the Job After a Brutal Market Year

Many MANTRA teams were hit by layoffs after a tumultuous year.

MANTRA Founder and CEO John Patrick Mullin has announced a significant restructuring of the company. In a post on X, Mullin confirmed that the Layer 1 blockchain company focused on real-world assets will cut staff across multiple teams as it seeks to reset its cost structure after “the most challenging year” in the company’s history.

The decision to cut headcount followed months of internal negotiations and came after efforts to curb spending and simplify operations proved insufficient to match near-term market realities. According to the announcement, the layoffs will affect teams across the organization, including business development, marketing, human resources, and other support functions, among the most difficult.

Mass Layoffs for the “Leaner” MANTRA

Mullin said the layoffs were not an indication of individual performance, while describing those affected as talented contributors who helped build the ecosystem. The exec added that the Layer 1 blockchain has expanded significantly in 2024 and entered the first half of 2025 in an effort to rapidly grow within the RWA token sector, investing heavily in its blockchain infrastructure, ecosystem development, and go-to-market efforts.

However, a combination of factors, such as the prolonged crypto market downturn, intense competition, and “unfortunate and unfortunate” events in April 2025, left the company with a cost base that was no longer sustainable. Because of this, management concluded that deep cuts were needed to save the runway and refocus the business.

Mullin said the restructuring is intended to make MANTRA “significantly smaller” this year. This is expected to allow the company to focus resources on a subset of the most important programs while operating with greater efficiency.

“I take full responsibility for these decisions and for how we got here. I know this is an incredibly challenging situation, especially for those directly affected, their families, and everyone at MANTRA. I am deeply sorry for those who are leaving.”

OM Token Crash

MANTRA’s problems start in April 2025, when its native token OM dropped by almost 90% in one day. The event caused a massive sell-off and investor panic. In response, Mullin promised to burn 300 million OM tokens. The move was aimed at restoring trust.

The fire was ignited in late April, which permanently reduced circulation, lowered valuations, and attempted to stabilize the ecosystem amid intense scrutiny of internal allegations and management concerns.