These imaginary currency units are proving a real craze among TikTok users, even if they have no monetary value whatsoever.

Just spend a few minutes on the homepage of Gen Z’s favourite social network – the “For you” page – and you’ll soon see videos referring to dabloons. Most of them feature a cat, which calls out to you with the phrase “Hello traveller.”

The feline offers you a bowl of soup or another snack to comfort you after a hard day’s work. And, in exchange, the cat asks you for a few dabloons, imaginary virtual coins whose name references a Spanish currency in circulation in the 16th century.

And now, you’re in debt. But there’s no need to panic.

You can bail yourself out by watching one of the (very) many DabloonTok videos that make up this financial community, based on the hashtag of the same name, which already has over 800 million views on TikTok.

This figure is constantly increasing, reflecting the extent of the dabloons craze among internet users.

The trend is such that some people are talking about a veritable micro-economy, which sustains itself thanks to the videos posted by TikTok users on the social network.

Some of them give free dabloons to any internet user who watches them, while others take dabloons away in exchange for some imaginary service.

Holders of dabloons often have a tricky time keeping track of their finances, given the speed with which they earn, or lose, these units of virtual currency.

According to the Guardian, many people do their accounting on their smartphone, but some have taken to creating Excel spreadsheets to keep better track of their dabloon-related finances.

Indeed, they are by no means safe from losing their nest egg by falling on trap videos, created by dabloon thieves.

All for fun

Indeed, the whole point of this community role-playing game is that it’s not governed by any rules. Anyone is free to offer or ask for dabloons to or from other internet users through short videos, often featuring mischievous-looking cats.

The feline images refer to the beginnings of this fictitious micro-economy. The reference site Know Your Meme claims that it originates from a meme in which a cat proudly shows the four “fingers” of its paw, with the caption “4 dabloons.”

The image apparently first appeared on Instagram in April 2021, giving rise, a few days later, to another founding meme of DabloonTok. It is essentially based on the same principle, namely a cat asking for four dabloons, but it involves a blurry shot of a black feline in motion.

As is often the case on the internet, the origins of these memes are unclear. But it’s hard to imagine the creator of the “4 dabloons” memes ever imagining that these images would give rise to a veritable fictitious economy on TikTok, as complex as it is unregulated.

Right now, dabloons are circulating in too large quantities on the short-form video platform. The price of the imaginary currency is therefore increasing significantly, which has led some of its followers to call for anti-inflationary measures. These include limiting donations to 100 dabloons or the creation of governmental bodies.

Is this a sign that the era of dabloons is coming to an end? Not necessarily. DabloonTok members participate in this large-scale role-playing game to have fun and escape from the economic difficulties they face IRL (In Real Life).

“I think the reason we all love this is that we all secretly miss being five and playing with our friends,” one collector told The Guardian.

“Being a part of this trend means I can do that again. I can be a silly little cat buying silly little items and just having a great time.”