POPCAT
The wide-mouth singing cat meme that became a global clicking game and cryptocurrency.
Popcat is an Internet meme originating in October 2020, in a series of videos which showcase two images of a domestic short-haired cat named 'Oatmeal', where one image has its mouth closed and the other has its mouth open, with the second image being edited to give its mouth an 'O' shape. The meme was later created into a popular game. It has since also been made into a widely available Solana-Based Cryptocurrency.
Quick Facts
- Network
- Solana
- Token standard
- SPL (Solana Program Library)
- Inspiration
- Popcat Internet Meme
- Founders
- Anonymous Community
- Category
- Meme Coin
Lore & Background
Oatmeal is a cat owned by a Twitter user named Xavier BFB, who first started the meme by posting to a private Discord server a video of Oatmeal chirping at a bug in mid-October 2020. It was then turned into a gif and posted on the Reddit subreddit Meow IRL on October 9, 2020, by a friend of Xavier BFB. On October 10, it was reposted onto Twitter where it gained over a million views. This sudden popularity then led to Xavier BFB uploading to Twitter the original video of Oatmeal chirping at a bug on October 11. However, it would be until it was utilized in music videos on Instagram where the gif was synced to the music to give the belief that Oatmeal was singing, that it would become popular. Its popularity in music videos would also lead the meme to become known as 'wide-mouth singing cat'.
Reader's Guide
A game around the meme, called Popcat.click, would be later launched on 11 December 2020, by three students from the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom; Rain O'Sullivan, Ed Hails and Freddy Heppell. The game revolved around the user clicking on an image of Oatmeal, in which the cat opens its mouth the same way it did in the viral memes and makes a pop noise. Each click contributes to their user's nation rank on a leaderboard. As of 20 August 2023, the leaderboard consists of 237 nations; with Hong Kong, Taiwan and Thailand being in the top 3; whilst Nauru, Montserrat and Saint Barthélemy are ranked as the bottom three.
Did You Know?
- The game experienced a surge in popularity in April 2021 in Europe where the leaderboard was dominated by European nations with Finland as number one.
- Its popularity in Finland would result in its ban in multiple schools in the country.
- During the 2020–2021 Thai protests, the game became very popular among the Thai youth, resulting in Thailand overtaking Taiwan to become the top nation on the leaderboard.
- At the end of 2021, Popcat was listed as the No.1 top trending game for 2021, following Google Trends release of its annual Year in Search results.
- A knock-off called popyut.click launched in Thailand replaced popcat with images of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-Cha; it was closed down by the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society on 1 August 2021.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is POPCAT?
POPCAT serves as the digital embodiment of Oatmeal, the viral cat that taught the internet how to click. It operates on Solana not through code utility, but through the sustained momentum of its meme ancestor.
What network does POPCAT use?
This token runs natively on the Solana blockchain using the SPL standard for compatibility and speed. Its performance relies more on community attention than traditional technical infrastructure.
Who created POPCAT?
There are no public founders behind this project, as it was created by an anonymous collective of fans. This lack of central ownership aligns with its nature as a decentralized badge of internet participation.
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