Elon Musk suddenly changed his X account to Kekius Maximus, causing a cryptocurrency of the same name to suddenly increase in price.
On December 31, 2024, Elon Musk's X account changed to Kekius Maximus with a profile picture of "Pepe the Frog," a popular cartoon character dressed in ancient Roman attire and holding a video game controller. "Kekius Maximus will soon reach level 80 in PoE," he wrote, referring to the popular video game Path of Exile 2.
Musk did not explain his actions. When contacted by AFP, he did not comment. According to Fortune, the new name appears to be a combination of Maximus Decimus Meridius, a Roman general in the 2000 hit film Gladiator; and kek, a popular term among online pranksters. "Pepe the Frog" is a cartoon character from the comic strip Boys Club.
According to data on CoinGecko, the Kekius token of the Kekius Maximus cryptocurrency increased by more than 1,600% from $0.011 to $0.182 immediately after Elon Musk changed its name. Previously, the meme coin rarely surpassed the $0.015 mark.
Meanwhile, CoinMarketCap's records also show that dozens of other tokens named "Kekius" or "Maximus" all surged between 200% and 1,000% after Musk's move. These meme coins were previously "virtually unknown."
Meme coins are considered a joke of the cryptocurrency world, created with inspiration from popular images on the Internet, real-life events or famous people. Unlike cryptocurrency projects like Bitcoin or Ethereum, meme coins were born for entertainment purposes, without any fundamental technical value or solving any problems in life. Most people who play meme coins are just for entertainment or speculation.
In the past, Elon Musk was the "agent" that caused many meme coins to increase in price sharply, the most famous of which is Dogecoin. Every time the American billionaire mentioned it, this cryptocurrency increased sharply from a few hundred to more than 1,000%.