Meme coin rises by 2000% after Musk changed name to ‘Kekius Maximus’ on X

Elon Musk, the owner of X, has caused a stir in the cryptocurrency market by changing his display name and image to ‘Kekius Maximus’.

Kekius Maximus, the name of a meme coin, is a type of cryptocurrency inspired by internet memes and was launched on December 14, 2024.

The meme coin is a fusion of ‘Pepe the Frog’ meme with the armour of ‘Maximus,’ the heroic protagonist of the movie, Gladiator.

After the name change was noticed on December 31, Musk shared a post saying, “This will be priceless,” after a user expressed curiosity about how the media would cover the move.

According to Forbes, the value of the Kekius Maximus meme coin skyrocketed by over 2000 percent since Musk changed his display name.

Musk has not clarified his intentions behind the name change; however, he has reverted to his original name.

The meme coin is currently trading at $0.0112, with its all time high at $0.0112, according to Coinmarketcap, a cryptocurrency aggregator.

The name change marks another instance of Musk’s social media activity impacting crypto prices.

In 2021, his tweets about Dogecoin caused the coin’s value to soar.

The billionaire also integrated Dogecoin into the payment system of his electric carmaker, Tesla, describing the digital coin as his “favourite” cryptocurrency.

Musk’s influence in the cryptocurrency market also extends to Bitcoin, as the most valuable crypto asset jumped to a record high of $44,000 per coin in February 2021, after Tesla announced a $1.5 billion investment in the cryptocurrency.

Three months later, the cryptocurrency market plunged after Musk announced that Tesla has suspended the Bitcoin payment option launched in March 2021.