This article is also available in Spanish.
Elon Musk, billionaire entrepreneur and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has once again disrupted the crypto market by changing the name of his X account. At this time, Musk renamed his official profile to “Kekius Maximus” and replaced his avatar with a PEPE frog wearing vintage armor holding a game controller. Although the eccentric tech magnate did not provide an explanation, the sudden change has caused a lot of speculation.
One of the biggest beneficiaries of this development is the anonymous memecoin, also called Kekius Maximus (KM). Notably, a few hours before Musk was renamed, an anonymous trader made a significant purchase that led to a massive drop in the stock. On-chain analytics company Lookonchain (@lookonchain) reported on X:
“What a lucky trader—or maybe an insider! In the last 9 hours, he spent $4,360 to buy 18.15M KM. Just one hour ago, Elon Musk changed his profile name to Kekius Maximus, sending the price of KM up ~17,000%. The 18.15M KM he bought is now worth $638K!”
Related Reading
Whether the timing was a coincidence or something coordinated is still an open question. As of press time, there is no indication that Musk has a direct relationship with the token. Yet the trader’s attractive profits underscore the often unpredictable relationship between Musk’s Internet antics and sudden market movements.
As of press time, Kekius Maximus (KM) is trading at $0.03087, representing an impressive 12,533% increase in the last 24 hours. Its market capitalization has reached $30.87 million, and the daily trading volume has risen to about $103.51 million.
However, contrary to claims from some crypto media outlets, Musk’s name change is not connected to memecoin itself, and there is no affiliation. Once again, it is lucky to be surprised by some crypto traders.
Related Reading
Notably, this isn’t the first time Musk has caused a stir with his name or profile changes. In the past, he has taken on monikers such as Mr. Tweet, Naughty Moniker, and Naughtius Maximus. In April 2023, he famously replaced the Twitter bird symbol with a Dogecoin Shiba Inu dog, causing a temporary spike in the price of DOGE.
Regarding his recent adoption of the name “Kekius Maximus,” various interpretations abound in online communities. “Kek” traces its origins to World of Warcraft’s default translation of “LOL,” evolving into an internet-wide meme. “Pepe the Frog” has been coined the same way as “Kek,” as it has been adopted by various internet subcultures over the years. The idea of “Kekistan”—a fictional internet “nation” that plays on cultural satire as a humorous response to identity politics, while the Kekistan flag mimics the German battle flag.
Recently, Musk has made significant waves in German politics by voicing support for the Alternative for Germany (AFD). The mainstream media and other political parties have strongly criticized Musk’s action, while he himself has confirmed his position by agreeing to an interview with AFD leader Alice Weidel. However, whether there is a broader context to these actions remains speculation.
Featured image from X, chart from TradingView.com