What is FOMO?
FOMO
FOMO, or fear of missing out, is a psychological driver often cited in crypto markets, where rapid user growth and price movements push people to trade. In mid-2026, commentators observed that mainstream users, not just crypto natives, were joining platforms in large numbers, fueling this sentiment.
How it developed
- Jun 2026 - Paul Erlanger criticized “super apps” for lacking intentionality, implying that FOMO-driven feature stacking dilutes focus.
- Jul 2026 - Jason Yanowitz noted that Robinhood’s listing process is a “total pain in the ass,” which may limit asset availability and contribute to FOMO when new assets do list.
- Jul 2026 - Yanowitz reported that a platform added 12,000–15,000 users in a single day during a bear market, suggesting these are not crypto natives but people eager to trade on-chain, likely driven by FOMO.
In the evidence
Every line below is attributed to a named speaker.
Robinhood building its own chain is partly regulatory arbitrage: listing a new asset on the exchange requires navigating a compliance team, but any asset on Uniswap or Jupiter can be made available on-chain instantly with no internal approval.
“The other thing here is like there is regulatory reasons to like if Robin Hood wants to go list an asset on the exchange, it's probably a total pain in the ass. like I don't really fully know but like it's you know it's it's a pain in the ass or actually I do know it is a pain in the ass. There's a listings team and a compliance team and they are at odds with each other and you know not just at Robin Hood at every exchange there's a listing team that wants to grow the P&L by listing more assets and there's a compliance team that says no you can't list that asset. So the second you move things on chain, well you can actually just list any asset that's on unis swap.”Jason Yanowitz · 10 Jul 2026
FOMO, a Solana-based trading app, is adding up to 15,000 non-crypto-native users daily in a bear market by offering on-chain access to real-world assets like pre-IPO shares and leveraged commodities.
“They added, I think it was 12 or 15,000 users the day before. We're we're in a bare market. There's like a 100,000 crypto people who trade crypto probably in the world like and they're adding 15,000 a day. So, who are those users? They're people who want to trade things on chain. They're not crypto natives. They're people coming from like I think as all these assets move on chain, SpaceX preo, you know, 5x levered copper, it all moves onto a blockchain.”Jason Yanowitz · 10 Jul 2026
FOMO app added 12,000 to 15,000 users per day during a bear market, mostly non-crypto-natives seeking on-chain access to assets like SpaceX pre-IPO shares and leveraged commodities.
“They added, I think it was 12 or 15,000 users the day before. We're we're in a bare market. There's like a 100,000 crypto people who trade crypto probably in the world like and they're adding 15,000 a day. So, who are those users? They're people who want to trade things on chain. They're not crypto natives. They're people coming from like I think as all these assets move on chain, SpaceX preo, you know, 5x levered copper, it all moves onto a blockchain.”Jason Yanowitz · 10 Jul 2026
FOMO: a fintech startup building a social-graph-first financial app, positioning itself against super-app competitors like Robinhood by emphasizing intentionality of product bundling.
“All these other apps are just everything super apps and there's no intentionality behind why all those things have to exist in the same place.”Paul Erlanger · 27 Jun 2026
FOMO plans to keep total headcount below 25 people within one year.
“Hopefully below 25.”Paul Erlanger · 27 Jun 2026