Fomo (fomo.family)
Summary
Fomo (fomo.family) is a consumer social crypto trading app developed by FOMO Labs, Inc. of San Francisco, co-founded by former dYdX employees Paul Erlanger and Se Yong Park. Launched in May 2025 and backed by $19 million in funding led by Benchmark Capital, the platform operates on Solana, Base, and BNB Chain with a non-custodial wallet architecture. The platform is explicitly unregulated, has no publicly disclosed security audits, charges flat per-trade fees that disadvantage small traders, and has spawned at least one active phishing/wallet-drainer scam site impersonating its brand.
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Disambiguation: Why This FOMO Was Selected
Multiple unrelated crypto projects operate under the 'FOMO' name, including: FOMO token on the TON blockchain (airdrop platform), FOMO Network (a Layer-1 proof-of-stake chain), fomo.fund (an AI-agent launchpad on Solana), FOMOSolana (a memecoin), FOMO BULL CLUB (a Base-network launchpad), Aavegotchi FOMO (a gaming token), and Fomo Lab (an NFT/DeFi multi-chain ecosystem). This investigation focuses on Fomo (fomo.family) — developed by FOMO Labs, Inc. — because it is the most prominent, most verifiably documented, and most actively discussed entity: it received a $17 million Series A from Benchmark Capital in November 2025 as reported by TechCrunch, has identifiable named founders, has generated significant third-party review coverage, and has spawned documented impersonation scams. No other FOMO-branded project has comparable Tier 1 or Tier 2 sourcing depth. The alternative projects are noted herein where relevant.
Company Overview and Founders
Fomo (fomo.family) is a consumer-facing social crypto trading application developed by FOMO Labs, Inc., headquartered in San Francisco. The company was co-founded by Paul Erlanger and Se Yong Park, both former employees of the decentralized derivatives exchange dYdX. Additional team members are reported to have backgrounds at Uniswap, OpenSea, Square, and Two Sigma. The app launched in May 2025 with a mobile-first design targeting retail crypto investors. The platform's stated objective is to combine social discovery features — such as following other traders' activity — with multi-chain execution across Solana, Base, BNB Chain, and Monad. FOMO Labs, Inc. is a VC-backed startup; no public incorporation records or SEC EDGAR filings were located at time of investigation.
Funding and Investor Backing
Fomo raised a total of $19 million across two rounds. The first round was a pre-seed of $2 million sourced from over 140 angel investors drawn from an original target list of 200. Notable angels include Raj Gokal (co-founder of Solana), Marc Boiron (CEO of Polygon Labs), and Balaji Srinivasan (former Coinbase CTO). The company bypassed a traditional seed round entirely. In November 2025, Benchmark Capital led a $17 million Series A, with Benchmark partner Chetan Puttagunta taking a board seat. Benchmark's involvement is noteworthy given the firm's selective approach to crypto investments; its prior crypto bets include Chainalysis and Toncoin. The Series A was reported by TechCrunch and corroborated by Yahoo Finance and multiple crypto news outlets. At the time of the Series A announcement, the company reported approximately 120,000 users, $20-40 million in daily trading volume, and $150,000 in daily revenue.
Regulatory Status and Licensing
Fomo (fomo.family) is explicitly described as unregulated across multiple independent review sources. The platform carries no known registration with FinCEN as a Money Services Business (MSB), no state Money Transmitter Licenses (MTL), and no oversight from the SEC, CFTC, or any equivalent body. Third-party reviews note 'License N/A / Not Regulated' and explicitly warn users that 'there is no FDIC or regulatory protection.' The platform's own security documentation does not disclose any regulatory status or jurisdictional authorization. One review source advises users to 'confirm whether the operator and any fiat payment partners are authorized where you live' before using the service. The non-custodial wallet architecture — in which users hold their own private keys — may affect how the platform is classified under money transmission statutes, but no public legal opinion or regulatory guidance specific to Fomo has been located. No regulatory actions, enforcement proceedings, or sanctions against Fomo or FOMO Labs, Inc. were found as of the investigation date.
Product and Business Model
The Fomo app is a mobile-first, multi-chain crypto trading platform. Core features include: a social trading feed displaying other users' trades in real time, early-token discovery modules surfacing newly launched tokens, one-tap multi-chain execution (Solana, Base, BNB Chain, Monad), portfolio tracking and PnL analytics, and copy-trading functionality. The platform supports fiat on-ramp via Apple Pay, bank transfer, and crypto deposit. Fee structure: a flat $1 fee per trade (alternatively described in some sources as 0.50% with a $0.95 minimum). The platform covers blockchain gas fees for users. A 10% fee discount is available via referral codes. The company has projected an ambition to expand beyond crypto trading into prediction markets and traditional securities. Metrics reported as of November 2025: over $1.52 billion in cumulative volume, $5.16 million in fees collected, 3.47 million transactions, and 55,000+ lifetime active users per one review source. These metrics are sourced from a crypto news review site and have not been independently verified on-chain.
Wallet Architecture and Security
Fomo uses a non-custodial embedded wallet model. Private keys are managed using Shamir's Secret Sharing — split into multiple cryptographic shares such that no single party, including FOMO Labs, Inc., can reconstruct the full key. Key reassembly occurs only within Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) during transaction signing. Users authenticate via email or Apple ID; biometric verification (FaceID) is required for app access, withdrawals, and private key exports. EVM chains use ERC-4337 account abstraction standard smart contract wallets. The architecture is described by the company as equivalent to enterprise key management solutions used by 1Password and Cloudflare. No independent third-party security audits of the wallet architecture, smart contracts, or the application itself have been publicly disclosed. No hardware wallet integration is supported. No known security breach or hack of the platform has been reported as of April 2026.
- [1]MEDFomo Official: fomo Security and Wallet Architectureofficial
User Complaints and Platform Risks
User reviews across the Apple App Store, Google Play, and third-party review sites present a mixed picture. The app holds an average App Store rating of approximately 4.6 out of 5 from several hundred reviews as of early 2026. Recurring complaints include: inaccurate PnL and portfolio analytics (one user reported the app displaying $124 gain on an actual $50 gain); an unclear selling and withdrawal process with some users reporting inability to withdraw to bank accounts; high effective fees for small trades (the flat $1 or $0.95 minimum makes sub-$50 trades disproportionately expensive); frequent app freezing and lag during high-traffic periods; and absence of advanced order types including take-profit, stop-loss, and trailing stop-loss. The social copy-trading feature has been characterized by some users and reviewers as a potential driver of herd mentality and poor investment outcomes, particularly given the platform's emphasis on newly launched, highly volatile memecoin-type tokens. At least one third-party review rates the overall platform as 'High-Risk Project — Not Recommended,' citing the unregulated status and focus on volatile assets.
- [1]LOWApple App Store: fomo — never miss out, Ratings and Reviewscommunity report
- [2]LOWCoinSpot: Fomo Crypto App Review 2026 — High-Risk Ratingother
- [3]LOWBitcoinCourier: Fomo App Reviewother
Impersonation Scam: Claim-Fomo Wallet Drainer
A phishing site impersonating the official Fomo platform has been documented and analyzed by PCRisk, a cybersecurity research outlet. The fraudulent domain 'claim-fomo[.]family' (serving IP 104.21.18.15) mimics the visual design of the official fomo.family site and falsely advertises a token airdrop or eligibility check. When users click 'Check Eligibility' and connect their crypto wallets, they inadvertently sign a malicious smart contract that activates a cryptocurrency drainer. The drainer executes automated transactions transferring assets into scammer-controlled wallets and may prioritize higher-value holdings. The scam was flagged by G-Data as a phishing operation. No specific dollar figure of losses attributable solely to this scam site has been published; however, broad industry context shows wallet drainers collectively stole approximately $494 million from victims in 2024, a 67% year-over-year increase. Due to the irreversible nature of on-chain transactions, victim fund recovery is described as practically impossible. The existence of this active impersonation campaign represents a material risk to Fomo users who may encounter the fraudulent site via search engines, social media, or unsolicited messages.
Other FOMO-Named Projects: Brief Notes
Several other entities use the FOMO name in the crypto space and are noted here for disambiguation. FOMO Network is described as a Layer-1 proof-of-stake blockchain interoperable with Cosmos, EVM, and WASM. fomo.fund is an AI-agent launchpad on Solana that pairs each launched token with a custom AI agent; its CoinMarketCap-listed price stands at approximately $0.00000079 USD with no reported trading volume at time of investigation, indicating negligible market activity. FOMOSolana reached an all-time high of $3.51 in November 2023 and is currently trading approximately 99.99% below that peak, consistent with a collapsed memecoin. Aavegotchi FOMO is a gaming utility token within the Aavegotchi ecosystem. None of these alternative projects have significant Tier 1 or Tier 2 investigative coverage, regulatory actions, or verified scam reports as distinct entities. Separate AVOID.NET investigation pages would be warranted if specific concerns emerge for any of these.
- [1]MEDCoinMarketCap: FOMO (fomo.fund)other
- [2]MEDCoinMarketCap: FOMOSolanaother
- [3]MEDCoinMarketCap: FOMO Networkother
Timeline
2025-02-18
Fomo (fomo.family) closes $2 million pre-seed round with over 140 angel investors including Raj Gokal, Marc Boiron, and Balaji Srinivasan.
CryptoRank2025-06-01
Apple Pay support added approximately one month after launch, described by founders as accelerating revenue to $150,000 per week and $3 million in daily volume.
TechCrunch2025-11-06
Benchmark Capital leads $17 million Series A in FOMO Labs, Inc., bringing total funding to $19 million. Benchmark partner Chetan Puttagunta joins the board.
TechCrunch2025-01-01
PCRisk documents and publishes analysis of the 'claim-fomo[.]family' phishing/wallet-drainer site impersonating the official Fomo platform. Exact date of publication not specified; listed as discovered prior to investigation.
PCRiskmodel: claude-sonnet-4-6
generated: 4/30/2026, 8:28:54 PM
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