Cryptocurrency Kekius Maximus plunged after Elon Musk changed his social media profile from Kekius Maximus to his own.
Earlier, on New Year’s Eve, Musk changed his X-Files profile name to “Kekius Maximus” and posted “Brothers in Arms ,” combining the Pepe the Frog meme with “Maximus” from the movie Gladiator .
Memecoin Kekius Maximus ( KEKIUS ) launched on December 14, growing more than 30-fold from a $12 million market cap to a peak of $380 million, according to CoinGecko . The token price rose from $0.01 to $0.39. Many clones on Solana were launched but did not achieve similar success.
Kekius Maximus’ market capitalization drops more than $300 million
After Musk changed his profile back to his real name on New Year’s Day, the memecoin Kekius Maximus fell 75% to $0.077 ($77 million market cap) in a little over an hour amid a wave of selling. It has since recovered to $0.157, according to CoinGecko.
One trader turned $66 worth of KEKIUS into a paper profit of more than $3 million but was unable to cash out before the sell-off, according to Lookonchain . Meanwhile, another trader who was quicker made $2.3 million, according to GMGN . Etherscan data shows that KEKIUS still has more than 24,000 holders.
Musk’s name change coincides with him turning his attention to more serious issues, like the Cybertruck explosion containing fireworks and a possible bomb outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas .
