The world's richest man, Elon Musk, has sparked speculation after changing his name on his social media platform X to 'Kekius Maximus'.
The tech mogul – and close confidant of US President-elect Donald Trump – did not immediately provide an explanation for the name or his new profile picture, which depicts the character Pepe the Frog – a meme used by far-right groups.
The move sent ripples through the cryptocurrency world, sending the value of memecoin — a digital currency inspired by internet memes — that shares the same name, skyrocketing.
Mr. Musk has influenced crypto prices in the past with his comments on social media, but it was not immediately clear if he had any involvement in this particular memecoin.
“Kekius” appears to be a Latinization of “kek,” a word roughly equivalent to “laugh out loud” popularized by gamers but now often associated with the alt right.
“Kek” is also the name of the ancient Egyptian god of darkness, who is sometimes depicted with the head of a frog.
Many people would associate “Maximus” with the name of Russell Crowe's heroic character in the movie “Gladiator”, Maximus Decimus Meridius.
Mr Musk's new profile picture depicts Pepe in Roman military garb holding what appears to be a games console.