Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has fueled speculation after changing his name on his social media platform X to ‘Cacus Maximus’.
The tech mogul — and a close ally of US President-elect Donald Trump — did not immediately offer an explanation for the name or his new profile image, which depicts the character Pep the Frog — a meme popularized by the far-right. have been using groups of
The move has sent ripples through the cryptocurrency world, sending the value of a memecoin — a digital currency inspired by internet memes — skyrocketing.
In the past, Mr. Musk has influenced crypto prices with his social media commentary, but it was not immediately clear if he had any involvement with this particular memecoin.
“Caquios” appears to be a Latin form of “cake,” a word roughly synonymous with “laugh out loud” that became popular in gaming but is now often associated with the alt-right.
“Kek” is also the name of the ancient Egyptian god of darkness, sometimes depicted with the head of a frog.
Many people associate “Maximus” with the name of Russell Crowe’s heroic character Maximus Decimus Meridius in the movie Gladiator.
Mr. Musk’s new profile picture shows Pepe in Roman military garb with a game console visible.