EXCLUSIVE: Mantra CEO on the future of RWA, ecosystem fund, and future plans

The Real World Asset tokenization industry is growing, attracting major players like Franklin Templeton, BlackRock, and Blackstone.

Cryptocurrencies in the space have performed well over the past few months, with their total market capitalization soaring to over $30 billion. Mantra (OM), a popular cryptocurrency, has become the second-largest RWA coin after Chainlink (LINK). Its token has surged by 640% over the last 12 months, giving it a market cap of over $6 billion.

Crypto.news recently spoke with Patrick Mullin, Mantra’s CEO, about its newly launched ecosystem fund, the token’s performance, and the future of Real World Asset tokenization.

Congratulations on the strong performance of your cryptocurrency. With so many RWA projects in the space, what made MANTRA stand out?

Thank you! We’re proud of MANTRA (OM) momentum and the growing recognition in the RWA space. What sets MANTRA apart is our commitment to building a fully compliant, end-to-end ecosystem for real-world asset tokenization and trading. Our permissionless chain was designed from the beginning to meet regulatory standards. 

We recently secured a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), authorizing us to operate as a Virtual Asset Exchange. This positions MANTRA as one of the most regulatory-compliant platforms in the RWA sector today. 

Beyond compliance, we’re driving real-world adoption through strategic partnerships – most notably with DAMAC Group, recently committing to tokenize more than US$1 billion in Dubai real estate. Unlike projects that focus on just one piece of the RWA puzzle, MANTRA is building a comprehensive ecosystem – from asset tokenization to exchange infrastructure and investment services.

You have just launched the MANTRA Ecosystem Fund. Which kind of projects do you aim to support?

Working alongside MANTRA’s capital partners, MEF plans to deploy this capital over the next four years through a combination of OM-token grants and partner capital investments. The MEF will operate with an open-arms policy, welcoming projects at any developmental stage globally with a particular focus on RWA’s and DeFi. 

Applications can be made with just a one pager through our portal and we’re interested in meeting teams that are building in categories that include; lending and borrowing, asset management, trading and exchanges, infrastructure and tools and derivatives and synthetics. 

How will MANTRA ensure that the fund’s investments align with its commitment to regulatory compliance and security, given the complexities of tokenizing real-world assets?

The MEF will only invest in teams that share a similar commitment to compliance and security that we do. Truly scalable adoption for us, and anyone building in RWA, only comes through a compliance and regulatory orientation. 

We think it is a prerequisite in achieving PMF therefore, that teams adhere as tightly as we do. We will lend our expertise and network to ensure teams are sufficiently positioned for the challenges they will face in this vertical. 

Many blockchain projects have launched ecosystem funds in the past with limited success. How do you plan to ensure that projects in your fund do well?

We are taking a very differentiated approach from previous ecosystem funds, one we believe will mitigate that. 

Firstly, most ecosystem funds refuse to accept that we live in a multi-chain world. The result is that they only work with teams that will exclusively partner with them on the infrastructure layer side. This constrains the variety of the teams that funds can work with. 

By acknowledging this, this means we can work with teams across ecosystems, and thus can pick from a more diverse range of applications. We want to work with much fewer teams, and make larger resourced bets. This way we believe teams will be properly invested in us and our commitment, as we are them.  

The second difference is that we are trying to make fundamental, high-conviction bets. This differentiates from other approaches, that issue small cheques, that don’t result in any meaningful or fruitful relationship for either partner. We’re saying that from day zero, we are looking to be long-term partners with those in the MEF. Aiding not just on the infrastructure side but on set up, distribution, press, and so on. 

MANTRA has positioned itself as a leader in real-world asset tokenization. What unique challenges do you see in bridging traditional finance with DeFi through RWAs, and how is MANTRA addressing them?

The biggest challenge MANTRA faces, in its singular pursuit of being the blockchain infrastructure partner of asset issuers and managers globally, is getting these traditional institutions educated with a new technology stack, its benefits and risks; and arguably most importantly, getting our technology working with them, in a way that is compliant and regulatory oriented. 

We have found that traditional institutions fully understand the benefits of tokenization, and are compelled by the various operational and cost efficiency gains. But there has been hesitancy on regulation and compliance from other possible infrastructure partners (L1s/L2s). That is precisely why we designed our L1 in the way we did, with compliance and regulation at its very core. 

We have designed not just our tech stack, but the fabric of our firm, from our staff to our pursuit of top-tier licensing/regulatory status, so we are an obvious day 0 partner to any financial institution. We work in lock-step with our institutional partners, to address all the unique challenges that come with tokenizing a broad spectrum of assets, across different classes and jurisdictions. 

What is the progress on your partnership with DAMAC? When can we see tangible results on this?

Our partnership with DAMAC to tokenize more than $1 billion of assets spanning real estate, hospitality, data centers, and other critical sectors has already begun. We look forward to sharing more details soon. 

How do you see the RWA tokenization market evolving over the next decade, and what role does MANTRA aim to play in shaping that future?

Just like the wider industry, we’ll see evolution come from adoption, with adoption coming from regulation and a collective composed of both institutional players and passionate builders. We believe in an open-arms and source approach when it comes to regulation. T

his means working alongside regulators, like we did with VARA to obtain the first Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) Licence, to draft regulations that suit both parties. We’ll continue to do this as we enter new markets. The next part is assisting others seeking to enter those regions and jurisdictions we already have, by sharing our learnings.