Elon Musk has provoked a sharp increase in PEPE and Kek meme-cytokines

Elon Musk’s new avatar, which depicts the fictional figure of Emperor Kekius Maximus, has caused prices for PEPE and Kek meme coins to rise. This happened after the billionaire changed his profile on social network X, adding an image of a frog in Roman armor — an allusion to Pepe the Frog and the old Kek meme image.

After the avatar update, the PEPE token grew by almost 10% and the Kek coin by more than 25% in a day. Both cryptocurrencies are associated with internet culture and meme communities, which traditionally react sensitively to mentions or visual allusions in Musk’s publications.

According to analysts, the effect of the «Musk tweet» is still strong in the market of speculative digital assets. Musk has previously influenced the rates of Dogecoin DOGE $0.03 Department Of Government Efficiency -5.49% Market capitalization $29.91 million VOL. 24 hours $0.42 billion and other cryptocurrencies through his posts or public actions. In this case, even an indirect mention caused a short-term wave of interest from traders.

Representatives of the crypto community were divided in their opinions: some called the situation a typical hype without fundamental value, while others took it as a signal for the start of a new meme cycle. Against this backdrop, trading activity in PEPE and Kek tokens has increased dramatically, particularly on Uniswap and Binance.

It is worth noting that Musk himself did not comment on the reasons for choosing the new image. However, given his influence in the crypto community, any visual or textual hints can have a speculative effect — even without official statements.