Elon Musk Ends “Kekius Maximus” Reign, Meme Coin Plunges 50%

On December 31, Elon Musk temporarily changed his name on X to “Kekius Maximus,” sparking the creation of various tokens with gains as high as 6,000%. The frenzy was short-lived; within a day, Musk reverted his name, causing these tokens to crash.

One such token, KEKIUS, peaked at $0.3890 but plunged by more than 50% after news broke that Musk changed his avatar again. At the time of writing, it’s trading at $0.1027.

“The reign of Kekius Maximus is over — for now. Elon Musk has returned to X,” summarized an analyst on social media.

The hype around KEKIUS drew attention from major investors. For example, a trader operating under the nickname rektdolphin.eth exchanged $1.2 million worth of PEPE tokens for 4.22 million KEKIUS. His holdings are now valued at just $290,000, meaning a loss of $1 million in a mere 12 hours.

Meanwhile, another large investor sold KEKIUS in time and netted about $2 million.

The token combines references to the Pepe meme and the “Maximus” figure from the film Gladiator. As a result, the emergence of KEKIUS spurred new interest in frog-themed coins, whose total market cap briefly soared to $11.8 billion.

Elon Musk is no stranger to influencing the crypto market. In 2021, his Dogecoin tweets sent the token’s price skyrocketing. In November 2024, DOGE once again surged after Musk called it the “people’s crypto.”

Previously: Trader Turns $3K into $73M with PEPE

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