A new year, a new Elon Musk memecoin (which rises 2,000% in a day)

Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, in the past used to do strange things which effected the crypto market. However, ever since some disgruntled Dogecoin investors filed a lawsuit against him in 2022 (which was settled only two months ago), we thought his posts about crypto would be severely restricted. Not really. He’s just using a different method.

On the first day of the year, Elon Musk changed his alias on X (formerly Twitter) to Kekius Maximus (a reference to the cartoon character ‘Pepe the frog’). Memecoins such as the existing ‘Pepe’ and the new ‘Kekius Maximus’ performed very well. Even Dogecoin received a temporary boost.

Starting the year with a dose of memecoin madness 🐸$KM up 4,190%$KEKIUS up 1,235%

2025 is already shaping up to be a wild ride. Buckle up. #KEKIUSMAXIMUS pic.twitter.com/XIrTSjhoVr

— Nansen 🧭 (@nansen_ai) January 1, 2025

Maximus

Elon was clearly bored during the last days of 2024. He posted hundreds of times about the pros and cons of immigration into the United States, showed pictures of his favorite furry animals and bragged about the size of his rocket (yes, really). On New Year’s Eve he changed his username and profile photo on his own social media platform X into a ‘Pepe the frog‘ meme (originally very popular with supporters of the far right).

Elon Musk recently changed his name on X to “Kekius Maximus” and updated his profile picture to an image of the Pepe the Frog meme, which has been trending in the cryptocurrency market. This move coincides with the emergence of a new memecoin named KEKIUS, which saw its value… pic.twitter.com/YbGq9ZYG1c

— Danish Ahmad (@Danishlife01) December 31, 2024

Musk’s new alias became Kekius Maximus, a meme that combines ‘Pepe the Frog’ with the character of Maximus Decimus Meridius, played by Russell Crowe in the original Gladiator film.

The ‘Kekius Maximus’ memecoin immediately rose like a rocket, by as much as 2,000% in just a day. Musk might thus get accused of manipulating the price of memecoins again.

After settling the Dogecoin manipulation lawsuit in November, he announced that he would lead a ministry of efficiency in the new Trump administration in 2025, called the ‘Department of Government Efficiency’, or DOGE. The irony was quite clear.

It is clear that also in 2025, Elon Musk’s posts will continue to influence crypto prices.