TikTok Dabloons / TikTok Doubloons / 4 Dabloons Cat

About

TikTok Dabloons, also written Doubloons, are an imaginary currency on TikTok started in November 2022. The trend is referenced within TikTok photo slideshows in which an offer is made by the black 4 Dabloons Cat who says, "Hello traveler," and then offers the viewer a trade for a certain number of dabloons. The original 4 Dabloons Cat was shared on Instagram in early 2021 when "dabloons" was in reference to cat toes. After dabloons went viral on TikTok in late 2022, many creators joked about the dabloons economy and levied their own net worths in dabloons. The primary TikTok sound associated with the trend was a sped-up version of "Cold Island" from the game My Singing Monsters.

Origin

On April 15th, 2021, the Instagram^[1] page catz.jpeg posted a photo of a tiny kitten paw with the bottom caption reading, "4 dabloons." Over the course of a year and a half, the post received roughly 21,900 likes (shown below, left). About a week later, on April 23rd, the Instagram^[2] page catz.jpeg posted another dabloons cat meme, this time using an image of a black cat (source currently unknown). Over the same time period, the post received roughly 36,700 likes (shown below, right).

Spread

The "4 Dabloons Cat" memes were shared on various platforms in the months that followed, such as on Tumblr^[3] on April 28th, 2021, earning roughly 51,000 notes in a year and a half. On May 1st, a subreddit was created for sharing dabloons cats called /r/4dabloons.^[4]

On TikTok

Starting in mid-2021, the "4 Dabloons Cat" was shared on TikTok. One of its first known uploads on TikTok was posted by TikToker^[5] jack.lcr on June 1st, 2021, in which he overlayed the cat meme while pretending to dig for dabloons underneath sand on a beach. The video received roughly 412,100 plays and 132,500 likes in a year and a half (shown below, left). On September 2nd, TikToker^[6] a_helpless_simp posted the "4 Dabloons Cat" meme in a video that earned roughly 30,000 plays and 1,000 likes in 14 months (shown below, right).

Starting in late October 2022, TikTokers started using the photo slideshow feature to pose situations in which a trade could be made if the video creator was given four dabloons. Currently, the first known TikTok of this nature was shared on October 29th, 2022, by TikToker^[7] workbysweezy who offered a burger in exchange for four dabloons. Over the course of one month, the slideshow received roughly 1 million plays and 228,500 likes (photos shown below).

The trend became increasingly viral in November 2022 following a slideshow posted by TikToker^[8] blxxdyblxxd on November 19th, 2022, which gained roughly 2.7 million plays and 524,900 likes in three days and offered "a bowl of my fresh stew" to the imagined traveler (photos shown below).

Thereafter, multiple TikToks emerged that discussed dabloons as a source of income. For instance, on November 21st, 2022, TikToker^[9] dabloonshq edited the "4 Dabloons Cat" into a "Breaking News" setting about the imagined dabloons economy, gaining roughly 739,000 plays and 237,000 likes in less than a day (shown below, left). Also on November 21st, 2022, TikToker^[10] thisisagoodname5 posted a video that joked about not being up to date on the dabloons economy, gaining roughly 598,700 plays and 123,800 likes in less than a day (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References