Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, has caused a stir by changing his name on the social media platform X to “Kekius Maximus.”
The billionaire, who is also close to U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump, hasn’t explained why he chose the new name or why his profile picture now features Pepe the Frog, a meme character linked to far-right groups.
This move has created a buzz in the cryptocurrency world, causing the value of a “memecoin”—a type of digital money inspired by internet memes—that shares the same name to suddenly rise.
Although Musk has influenced cryptocurrency prices before with his social media posts, it’s unclear if he’s involved with this specific memecoin. His new profile picture shows Pepe dressed in Roman soldier gear and holding something that looks like a game console. “Kekius” seems to be a play on the word “kek,” which gamers use to mean laughter, but it’s also been tied to far-right groups.
“Kek” is also the name of an ancient Egyptian god of darkness, often shown as a frog-headed figure.
The name “Maximus” is probably a reference to the famous character Maximus from the movie Gladiator, played by Russell Crowe.
