Billionaire Musk (Elon Musk) changed his official Twitter account to a frog avatar, set his nickname to Kekius Maximus, and posted related memes, stimulating a surge in the KEK (KEKE) meme coin, which peaked at $0.07362. However, he subsequently changed it back to its original state, causing related concept coins to rapidly decline.
British BBC reported that Musk's change of Twitter nickname to Kekius Maximus sparked market speculation, but as a close friend of the newly elected President Trump (Donald Trump), he did not immediately explain the reasoning behind this action. The avatar showcases the character PEPE the frog, which is a meme used by far-right groups.
Musk's new profile picture depicts PEPE the frog in Roman military attire holding something that looks like a game console.
Musk's post wrote 'Brothers in Arms' and attached a meme avatar of frog PEPE, attracting 46.7 million views.
But on Thursday (January 2), Musk's Twitter account's frog avatar and the nickname 'Kekius Maximus' were changed back to his original appearance, causing related concept coins to plummet.
The KEK token experienced a surge after Musk's actions, peaking at $0.07362, but then quickly fell.
The PEPE token also experienced a surge, but soon the bulls abandoned the position.
British media pointed out that Musk had previously influenced cryptocurrency prices through social media comments, but it is currently unclear whether he is involved with this specific meme coin.
'Kekius' seems to be a Latinized version of 'kek', a term roughly equivalent to the gaming slang 'laughing out loud' (LOL), but is now often associated with the alt-right.
'Kek' is also the name of an ancient Egyptian dark god, sometimes depicted as a person with a frog head.
Many people associate 'Maximus' with the name of the heroic character Maximus Decimus Meridius played by Russell Crowe in the movie (Gladiator).
Hong Kong (South China Morning Post) reported that Musk's action has led internet sleuths to begin searching for answers: Was the name change just for laughs? Is there hidden information? Is this another blatant attempt to shake up the cryptocurrency market? More disturbingly, is this an implication and endorsement of online hate groups?
