Elon Musk’s New X Avatar Sparks Rally for Pepe-Inspired Meme Coins, KEKIUS Up 2600%

Elon Musk’s recent rebranding of his X account has led to a surge in meme coin activity, particularly for Pepe-themed coins. Ethereum-based KEKIUS saw an astronomical rise of over 2,600%, reaching an all-time high of $0.301 at the time of writing. Its market cap soared from $12.8 million to over $265 million. Similarly, Pepe (PEPE) experienced a parabolic rally, rising about 20% to recover some of the losses incurred earlier in the week.

The spike in popularity has also spurred the launch of new meme coins across various blockchain platforms, including Solana’s Pump.fun and Tron’s SunPump, with tokens like KM, KEKIUS, and MAXIMUS appearing on the market.

What Happened?

On December 31, 2024, Musk surprised his 210 million followers on X, especially meme coin fans, by changing his display name to ‘Kekius Maximus’ and updating his profile picture to feature the popular meme character Pepe the Frog dressed in golden gladiator armor and holding a video game controller.

The new avatar seems to combine references to Maximus Decimus Meridius, a beloved character from the 2000 film Gladiator, and Pepe the Frog, a prominent meme figure and symbol of internet culture. It’s also a nod to the gaming community.

Before making the change, Musk hinted at the rebrand with a cryptic post, writing, “Kekius Maximus will soon reach level 80 in hardcore PoE.” This refers to Path of Exile, an online game Musk is known to play, where reaching level 80 marks a key milestone in the game’s progression system.

Musk’s affinity for Pepe-themed content is well-known, and previous instances of him sharing Pepe memes have led to similar surges in meme coin prices. On December 10, 2024, Musk retweeted an image of ‘Kekius Maximus’ created by Grok, resulting in a brief rally for PEPE.

Caution Amidst Hype

However, investors should approach with caution, as celebrity-driven rallies are often short-lived, a trend that has been evident in the crypto market. For example, Musk’s tweets about Dogecoin in late 2020 triggered a massive rally, sending DOGE to an all-time high of $0.7376 by May 2021, with its market cap surpassing $47 billion. Yet, the excitement eventually wore off, and Dogecoin’s price fell significantly, closing the year at $0.1708.

Similarly, the Solana-based meme coin Water (WATER) surged 400% after soccer star Lionel Messi endorsed it on Instagram, only to see most of the gains wiped out shortly afterward.

As of now, PEPE has dropped 9% from its intra-day high of $0.000021 as traders booked profits. KEKIUS has also retreated by 6% from its peak of $0.301, currently trading at $0.286.