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Elon Musk has triggered a meme coin outburst after changing his X profile name to āKekius Maximus,ā triggering a 120% rally in the frog-themed token.Ā
Created by Muskās followers last year in response to his initial profile name change, the Kekius Maximus (KEKIUS) token surged to $0.055 in the past 24 hours, up from an average of $0.025.
According to CoinMarketCap,Ā KEKIUSās trading volumeĀ spiked 285% to over $32.6 million during the same period. While not considered among the top meme coins to watch this May, the sudden spike has temporarily pushed KEKIUS into the spotlight.
Musk has a track record of influencing digital tokens through his social media posts, which date back to his early support of Dogecoin. When he acquired X (formerly Twitter) in 2021, he briefly replaced the platformās icon with Dogecoinās logo, causing a notable price bump. While Dogecoin and Shiba Inu remain Muskās most widely associated tokens, his uptake of Kekius Maximus marked a new meme trend based on frog culture.
The revival of KEKIUS comes as part of a broader wave of activity in meme markets. Shiba Inu has increased by 1.09% to $0.00001477 and the market cap for meme coins in general is up by 1.06% to about $69 billion.Ā
Muskās endorsements have historically sent tokens like Dogecoin (DOGE) soaring, but his recent āGorklon Rustā stunt shows a noticeable decline in influence. Musk switched his profile name to āGorklon Rustā on X and changed his profile picture to one with a GORK theme on May 4, which led to a surge in the Solana-basedāGORK meme coin. But the coin did not break the $100 million market cap barrier.
āPretty wild how not even Elon Musk making his pfp has an effect anymore. GORK soared from a market cap of $45 million to $75 million and since has slid back to approximately $65 million,ā one analyst noted. Many community members shared that sentiment, suggesting that Muskās power to move the markets might be waning.
The analyst noted the state of alt liquidity, emphasizing that even with 200 million followers, Muskās promotion of a meme coin barely pushed it past $50 million in market cap.
This trend isnāt isolated. In February 2025, Muskās brief rebrand to āHarry BÅlzā led to the creation of the HARRYBOLZ token, which only managed to hit a $9.5 million market cap. Similarly, in December 2024, when he changed his X username to āKekius Maximus,ā the KEKIUS token peaked at just over $88 million.
Not even after Musk tweeted a āDogefatherā meme that led to a flood of posts to token sale sites and the creation of tens of similar-named tokens, did a single one come close to surpassing the $100 million threshold.
This stands in stark contrast to his former sway. In 2020ā2021, Muskās repeated endorsements of DOGE led to huge rallies that swelled to tens of millions and billions in value. At the time, other meme coins rallied on Muskās endorsements, but today, the returns are much more subdued.
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