Elon Musk’s rebranding of his X, formerly Twitter account, set the crypto market talking, especially among fans of Pepe-themed meme coins. Ethereum-based KEKIUS surged an unprecedented 2,600% to reach an all-time high of $0.301, with its market cap jumping from $12.8 million to over $265 million. Popular meme coin PEPE jumped about 20% to regain a portion of its recent losses.
Amazing 🤩 https://t.co/tv5imVy2CT
— Kekius Maximus (@elonmusk) December 10, 2024
On Dec. 31, 2024, Musk appeared before his roughly 210 million X followers when he changed his display name to “Kekius Maximus” and his avatar to one inspired by Pepe the Frog wearing gold gladiatorial combat armor and juggling with a video game remote.
Musk’s Gladiator Avatar Sparks Gaming And Crypto Buzz
It draws inspiration from Maximus Decimus Meridius, the iconic character of the 2000 film Gladiator. The nod to video gaming is no surprise for the gaming communities, as Musk has a well-acknowledged love for video games.
It gets even more interesting when, as if to add some mystique to the development, Musk alluded to it through a cryptic tweet that “Kekius Maximus will soon reach level 80 in hardcore PoE.” References to Path of Exile, an online game popular among enthusiasts, also went well with gamers and enthusiasts of the meme coin, sending the asset into speculative overdrive.
KEKIUS led the pack, up over 2,600%, while PEPE was on a parabolic pump, up 20% intraday. The hype also triggered a spate of new meme coins on blockchain platforms, including Solana’s Pump.fun and Tron’s SunPump, carrying tickers like KM, KEKIUS, and MAXIMUS.
This is not the first time Musk’s love for Pepe memes has controlled market trends. In December, Musk tweeted an image of “Kekius Maximus,” which was generated by the AI chatbot Grok; similarly, that sent PEPE on a short-lived rally.
While Musk’s influence on the crypto market is undeniably huge, history also tends to show that these hyped-up rallies often lack legs. Consider that Dogecoin had risen explosively in the latter half of 2020 after Musk’s tweets sent it to an all-time high of $0.7376 in May last year. DOGE eventually spiraled downwards and closed at just $0.1708 at the end of that year.
Solana-based Water (WATER) jumped 400% after soccer star Lionel Messi shilled the coin on Instagram, but most of those gains quickly faded.
At the time of writing, PEPE and KEKIUS were indications of tapering off. As traders booked profit, PEPE had sunk 9% from the $0.000021 intraday high. KEKIUS has pulled back 6% from its peak, changing hands at $0.286.
While Musk’s antics most recently have lit a fire in the meme coin market, analysts warn it’s not wise to bet the bank on celebrity hype. “Investors should remain cautious as such rallies are usually short-lived and can reverse abruptly,” said one crypto market analyst.
It would now amaze the crypto world, like a ripple of Musk’s change in naming crypto. Repeatedly, it reminds traders just how volatile such meme coins are, which are utterly at the mercy of the market’s sentiment.
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