- Musk’s profile modification results in a 70% reduction in KEKIUS.
- A whale sell-off generates a $2.3 million profit amid panic.
Elon Musk ruffled the waters of the crypto market once more as he persisted in changing up his antics on social media. A brief run with a handle named “Kekius Maximus” on X, formerly Twitter, following Dec 31 saw him toggle on an update to the profile that drove Kekius Maximus, the memecoin, into unprecedented lows in an inspiration taken from Pepe the Frog and Maximus Decimus Meridius from the Roman hero.
The token started surging about 500% to reach ATH at $0.40 on January 1 based on the enthusiasm over Musk’s profile change, but when the market saw that Musk had reverted back to his reclusive self, the market tumbled massively. KEKIUS market capitalization went down from $400 million to $120 million within one hour, while the price also fell by over 70%, settling at $0.1157.
Panic Selling Triggered by Spike in Trading Volume
The dramatic price drop was exacerbated by a huge sell-off from a whale account, 0x8201., which sold a huge amount of KEKIUS tokens. The panic triggered a further decline in the token’s price, with the daily trading volume reaching $348 million. The whale walked away with a profit of $2.3 million, leaving smaller investors to scramble for a way to mitigate their losses.
Musk, whose social media updates often create ripples in the markets, had previously fueled rumors about his connection with the token. However, no official link has confirmed the connection to the KEKIUS project. Musk’s enigmatic remarks about level 80 in hardcore PoE implied that the profile change related to a video game rather than the memecoin.
This wasn’t a case in point with KEKIUS, as memecoins Pepe (PEPE) dropped by 2.7% on the day, as well. The effect was thus reflective of a connectedness among memecoin markets that often gets hit collectively whenever the trend turns.
At the time of writing KEKIUS was trading at $0.1434 PEPE traded at$0.00002061. Dramatic price moves are characteristic when investing in these memecoins in which quick winnings and losses follow each other day after day.
Although it is uncertain, this incident proves that Musk is still able to influence the cryptocurrency market with everything he does, whether intentional or not. His actions continue to captivate the crypto community and prove once again that his social media presence has significant sway over market sentiment.
