By Ewan Palmer
Elon Musk, the billionaire tech mogul and owner of X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, has changed his profile name on the site to “Kekius Maximus” on Tuesday.
Why It Matters
Musk, who boasts nearly 210 million followers on X, of which he changed the name, has seen his posts become increasingly influential, not to mention dissected, since he purchased the platform in a $44 billion deal in 2022. The tech billionaire is to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency in the upcoming Donald Trump administration.
What to Know
As of Tuesday, Musk’s profile name on X is Kekius Maximus. His avatar features Pepe the Frog, a popular online character, dressed in ancient Roman attire and holding a video game controller.
The Kekius Maximus image and name appears to be a blend of Pepe the Frog and Maximus Decimus Meridius, a character played by Russell Crowe in the 2000 film Gladiator.
Pepe the Frog rose to prominence on the message board site 4chan during President-elect Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) listed Pepe the Frog a hate symbol in September 2016, calling it the “Alt Right’s favorite meme.”
The term “kek” originated in online gaming as a variation of “LOL,” which stands for “laugh out loud.”
Musk referenced Kekius Maximus in a Tuesday post on X, stating he would reach level 80 in “Path of Exile 2,” a video game Musk is known to play.
Following Musk’s name change, a cryptocurrency memecoin also called Kekius Maximus saw its value surge by over 700 percent as of early December 31, according to CoinGecko.
Musk has not made any direct reference to the Kekius Maximus memecoin—often abbreviated as KEKIUS—which operates on blockchain platforms such as Ethereum.
While Musk has previously shown support for memecoins, there is no evidence of his involvement the Kekius Maximus cryptocurrency.
The new department Musk is to co-lead, the Department of Government Efficiency, uses the acronym DOGE, a reference to Dogecoin, Musk’s favorite cryptocurrency.
•™Source: Newsweek
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