Elon Musk Update: New Profile Picture & Memecoins Surge!

Elon Musk Changes Profile Picture, Rekindles Memecoins

19 May 2025 at 18: 28

Reading time: 2 minutes

Elon Musk has once again shaken up the cryptocurrency world. On May 17, he decided to change his avatar on X to an image of “Emperor Kekius Maximus.” The result? An explosion of memecoin activity.

Musk's playful jokes

Musk’s new avatar is a playful reference to internet culture, mixing “Pepe the Frog” and the hero from the movie Gladiator. This is not the first time he has embraced this meme. On New Year’s Eve 2024, he already sank into the role of “Kekius Maximus”, which led to a spectacular rise in various memecoins. It is evident: Musk and memes are an inseparable duo.

An exciting memecoin rally

A notable winner was Kekius Maximus (KEKIUS), a memecoin running on the Solana network. During Musk's stunt, the course by as much as 133% within half an hour. Unfortunately, the token remains far from previous records. On January 1, shortly after Musk's first avatar story, KEKIUS peaked at $0,40. Now, five months later, the price has dropped to around $0,05, which represents a decrease of more than 87 percent.

Pepe (PEPE) was also in the spotlight. Following the announcement, the token saw a surge of over 5%, tripling its trading volume to $2,19 billion. This made it the second most traded memecoin, just behind Dogecoin. Still, the impact of Musk’s joke was less significant, given Pepe’s large market cap of nearly $5,4 billion, while Kekius Maximus is only worth around $51 million.

Musk continues to create a momentum that few can ignore. His unpredictability creates a dynamic that affects even the most stable markets. It’s almost as if he’s rewriting the rules at every turn.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Elon Musk doing with his avatars?
With his avatars, Musk plays on internet culture and memes, such as with “Kekius Maximus”, which leads to fluctuating prices in the memecoins.

How has the price of Kekius Maximus developed?
After the avatar change on May 17, Kekius Maximus' price increased by 133%, but the token is still at a low of around $0,05, well below its peak of $0,40 in January.

Why is the impact on Pepe less?
Pepe had a larger market cap than Kekius Maximus, meaning the impact of Musk's announcement caused less significant price swings than other memecoins.

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