Trenches Report: pump.fun, fomo.family, Zcash and Robinhood Chain
Everyone keeps asking me "ser which chain." ๐ญ
Fair. So here's my honest state-of-the-trenches for early October 2026, from a guy who got rugged, kept building, and is now trying to pick an ocean for 100 belugas. I linked sources for everything. Facts are as of October 6, 2026, and this space moves fast, so double-check before you do anything.
Not financial advice. I draw whales. Read the disclaimer at the bottom.
pump.fun: still the loudest room in the trenches
I modded and collab-managed around pump.fun projects for a long time, so I watch this one closely.
- Callouts got a nerf (a good one). On October 4, co-founder Alon said that two months into pump.fun's $15 million Callout rewards program, the first version was rewarding spam. The algorithm now gives diminishing returns for every extra callout you post in a day, so quality beats volume. He also said spamming callouts or dumping on followers won't pay long-term. (TechFlow, KuCoin News)
- A mobile social trading app is coming. Alon laid out plans for an app with near-zero fees on Solana trades, around 0.1% cross-chain, free token creation and creator fee sharing. (BBX via Crypto Briefing)
- Money is still moving. Arkham data cited by Crypto Briefing shows about $2.8B in on-chain assets tied to pump.fun as of Oct 6, mostly its own PUMP token. 50% of net revenue funds buybacks, with cumulative buybacks past roughly $460M by late September. Insider unlocks started in July, so watch those wallets. (Crypto Briefing) One report also put pump.fun's trailing 30-day revenue at about $55.5M, ahead of Hyperliquid. (SentimentTrading)
My take: the callout change is the most important one for small creators like me. Being a real one with good takes is finally the meta, not posting 40 times a day. ๐ญ
fomo: the trenches went mainstream
I hang around fomo.family a lot. This year it stopped being "that app" and became a real platform.
- fomo web launched April 29, 2026: same account, balance and positions on desktop. (fomo blog)
- Perps went live June 11, powered by Hyperliquid and Trade[XYZ]. (fomo blog)
- $75M Series B led by Index Ventures, with Union Square Ventures and Benchmark, announced June 22. (fomo blog)
- Co-founder Seyong said fomo passed 3 million lifetime users. (Coinfomania)
- The latest update added clans, dev tags, a friends feed and chain filters, including Solana and Robinhood Chain. (fomo newsletter)
My take: fomo abstracts away bridges and gas. That's huge for collectors, because it means "which chain" matters less to normal people than it used to.
Zcash: NU7 just hit testnet
Privacy is the most cypherpunk thing in crypto and I love it. Here's where Zcash actually is:
- NU7 went live on public testnet on Oct 6 (height 4,465,026; Zakura's NU7 dashboard shows it active). It brings 25-second blocks (down from 75) and a new Network Sustainability Mechanism. (Zcash Community Forum)
- Mainnet is targeted for Nov 5, 2026, with the final mainnet activation decision set for Oct 20. The official z.cash page says no mainnet height has been set yet. (NU7 Timeline, ZIP 259, z.cash)
- Important for NFT people: the NU7 timeline says new transaction formats do not appear in this upgrade. So Zcash Shielded Assets (ZSAs), the thing that would make native shielded NFTs possible, are not part of NU7. ZSAs are running on a dedicated testnet (ZSA Testnet), and teams like ZecBit are proposing NFT tooling for when they arrive (grant proposal).
- What exists today is Zerdinals, an inscription-style NFT scene on Zcash. (Zerdinals)
My take: Zcash fits my ideals better than anything. But "shielded beluga NFTs" on mainnet isn't a thing yet, and I won't pretend it is.
Robinhood Chain: the new ocean
- Mainnet went live July 1, 2026. It's an Ethereum Layer 2 built on Arbitrum, focused on tokenized real-world assets. (Robinhood)
- OpenSea added it July 11: browse, buy, sell and mint NFTs on web and mobile. (OpenSea) OpenSea reported roughly 50,000 NFT mints, 80,000 secondary sales and 25,000+ wallets early on. (The Chain Observer)
- Vlad Tenev said it's built for RWAs but "works great for memes too." (ForkLog)
- Scam alert: in July, Vlad's X account got hacked to push a fake token. (CoinDesk) New chains attract scammers fast. One link, always.
And Solana, where I came from
Solana is still home for most of my people. Minting is cheap: the newer Metaplex Core standard is about 0.003 SOL per asset (Metaplex docs), and Magic Eden charges 0% to list and 2% on sales, with royalties optional for buyers on most collections (Magic Eden help).
So why is the Big Belugas chain still open?
Because I'd rather pick right than pick fast. ๐ญ Here's what each option would mean for you, the collector:
Solana: speed and tiny fees. You probably already have Phantom. Mature marketplaces. Downside: I literally posted that I was leaving, so it would be a "came back to build, not to gamble" arc.
Robinhood Chain: new-chain upside. EVM wallets, OpenSea from day one, early-pod energy on a young chain. Downside: thinner NFT community, and some of you would need to bridge.
Zcash: privacy. The most free-internet option. Downside: native shielded NFTs aren't on mainnet, so today it'd mean inscriptions, with limited wallets and marketplaces.
A combo: mint on one chain and give Zcash a "shielded" side quest later, once the tooling is real. More work for me, more explaining for you.
No option is free. Decision: [CHAIN]. Reveal soon. Mint: [DATE]. Price: [PRICE].
Tell me what you'd pick. Reply on X or DM @NftRaffi. The poll is input, not a binding vote, but I read every reply.
Still building. ๐๐ค
Raffi
Disclaimer: This is not financial, investment, legal or tax advice. I'm an artist, not an advisor. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any token or NFT. Crypto is volatile and you can lose everything (ask me how I know ๐ญ). Big Belugas is art, with no promised returns, floor or utility. Do your own research. The only official link is bigbelugas.com.
Want in? DM @NftRaffi on X for an invite, then go meet the pod.