Elon Musk takes the nickname of a cryptocurrency on X, its price soars by 1400%

A simple change in the nickname of the richest man on the planet was enough to send the price of a cryptocurrency soaring. Elon Musk changed his nickname on the social network X – which he owns – to Kekius Maximus, this Tuesday, December 31. This pseudonym, appearing to be a mixture of a symbol of the identity right, a memecoin (a virtual currency inspired by a meme, these humorous images shared on the web) and the character from the film Gladiator, has generated countless speculations.

Before changing his pseudonym, Elon Musk posted a cryptic message on X: “Kekius Maximus will soon reach level 80 in hardcore PoE”. PoE is an apparent reference to the popular video game Path of Exile. Following the puzzling billionaire's change of pseudonym, the value of the memecoin Kekius Maximus has soared by nearly 1,400%, according to the site CoinGecko, while Internet users wonder whether it is a joke or of a hidden message in favor of cryptocurrencies.

His new pseudonym could also be an allusion to Maximus Decimus Meridius – the Roman general played by Russell Crowe in Gladiator in 2000 – and to «kek»an expression frequently used by right-wing Internet users and many trolls to replace «lol». The boss of Tesla and SpaceX also swapped his profile photo for an image of “Pepe the Frog” dressed in a gladiator outfit, a popular cartoon character who had however been associated with the identitarian right during the first election of Donald Trump and described as “sign of hatred” par l’Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

Close to the president-elect, of whom he has become an important advisor, the billionaire will be one of the key figures of Donald Trump's mandate. He was also appointed to head a commission to “governmental efficiency”a body created to cut federal budgets, one of the workhorses of Donald Trump and Elon Musk. An organ whose initials in English give Doge… Another memecoin that he regularly highlights.