Kekius Maximus meme coins on Ethereum and Solana plummet after Elon Musk changes his profile photo and X page name.

Kekius Maximus, a meme coin on Ethereum (ETH), crashed from its $380 million market cap on Jan. 2 after Musk removed the character from his X account’s name and avatar.

The Ethereum-based Kekius Maximus token launched on Dec. 14 as a playful mix of crypto jargon and pop culture. “Kek” is crypto slang for something funny or ridiculous, while “Maximus” references Maximus Decimus Meridius, the main character in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator (2000).

Musk briefly adopted the Kekius Maximus name for his X page, referencing it in a video game-related tweet and again on New Year’s Eve. The attention drove the Ethereum-based Kekius Maximus token to soar over 30-fold, from $0.01 to …