A little-known meme coin called Kekius Maximus saw a dramatic price surge on Friday, gaining over 120% within hours. The sudden rally followed Elon Musk’s update to his X (formerly Twitter) profile.
Musk’s name change on X often follows up with these speculative pumps, but certain reg flags on KEKIUS are fueling notable concerns.
Kekius Maximus Keeps Pumping
Musk adopted the name “Kekius Maximus” on his X account and changed his avatar to an AI-generated image of himself in gladiator-style armor.
This led to renewed interest in the coin, which had largely gone unnoticed in recent months.
According to CoinGecko data, the digital asset spiked from obscurity to a four-month high of $0.06. This is far below its all-time peak of $0.4011, set during a similar Musk-induced meme moment in January.
Kekius Maximus Price Performance. Source: Coingecko
Meanwhile, the current spike pushed Kekius Maximus’ market cap to roughly $57 million, which is also well off its previous high of $181 million.
The token’s branding draws on the Pepe the Frog meme and the iconic Maximus character from the film Gladiator. This combination aligns with Musk’s rebrand and appeals to his meme-savvy audience.
Musk has not acknowledged the coin or suggested any direct involvement despite the token’s meteoric rise.
Still, his history of influencing crypto markets through subtle or playful social media gestures is well established. This is evidenced in his past endorsements of Dogecoin, which have trained investors to react quickly to any signal, even if indirect.
Even without a formal endorsement, a simple reference or image change can trigger a wave of FOMO-driven buying among investors.
Prior to this event, Kekius Maximus had shown little movement or trading volume. Musk’s rebrand appears to have injected new life into the project, albeit temporarily. History suggests that similar meme-driven pumps often retrace once the hype subsides.
Scam Kekius Maximus Token Concentration. Source: X/Nova
Meanwhile, malicious actors appear to be capitalizing on the project’s hype. Crypto analysts highlighted one Kekius-themed project whose team held 99% of the supply and looked to dump it on the community.
“$KEKIUS (CA 6m51rC2jRZkrtQkNNP4sXrSTE6Yq76F9huA8MYRtpump) is a blatant obvious scam, don’t buy this garbage…they have 99% of the supply,” the analyst wrote.
Welcome to the US Morning Briefing—your essential rundown of the most important developments in crypto for the day ahead.
Grab a coffee to see why Standard Chartered thinks XRP could soon leapfrog Ethereum, how Tether’s institutional pivot might reshape the stablecoin market, and how players like BlackRock, Galaxy Digital, and the Federal Reserve could shape crypto’s next chapter.
Standard Chartered says XRP Set to Outperform, Could Overtake Ethereum by 2028
As global trade tensions intensify, Standard Chartered sees a silver lining for crypto investors, urging them to focus on long-term winners poised to benefit from the disruption.
“Tariff noise creates the opportunity to look for long-term value/pick winners in Digital Assets for the next leg higher. Today we add XRP to that list of winners (BTC and AVAX other identified winners, ETH identified loser). XRP’s core use is as a cross-border and cross-currency payments platform. That part of Digital Assets is undergoing a shift higher in volumes, something we see continuing. By the end of 2028 we see XRP’s market cap overtaking Ethereum’s. That will make XRP the second largest (non-stablecoin) Digital Asset at that time. Keep looking for winners and HODLing those you already own”, Geoff Kendrick, Standard Chartered’s Head of Digital Asset Research, in an email to BeInCrypto.
Kendrick also pointed to Bitcoin’s resilience as a signal of what’s to come for the broader crypto market.
“Tariff mess will be over soon, and Bitcoin’s solid performance during the noise tells us a leg higher for the asset class will follow” he said.
He also points out important points about the recent performance of XRP:
“XRP price rose 6x in the two months following Trump’s election victory, the strongest performance among the top 15 digital assets by market cap. This reflected market expectations that the SEC would drop its appeal of a court ruling concerning Ripple, as well as the potential for XRP ETFs to be approved under new SEC leadership.”
But Kendrick believes the fundamentals — not just politics — are driving XRP’s momentum.
“We think these gains are sustainable, not just because of recent leadership changes at the SEC but also because XRP is uniquely positioned at the heart of one of the fastest-growing uses for digital assets – facilitation of cross-border and cross-currency payments. In this way, XRPL is similar to the main use case for stablecoins such as Tether: blockchain-enabled financial transactions that have traditionally been done through traditional financial (TradFi) institutions. This stablecoin use has grown 50% annually over the past two years, and we expect stablecoin transactions to increase 10x over the next four years. We think this bodes well for XRPL’s throughput growth, given the similar use cases for stablecoins and XRPL.”
Tether’s Big Play: Institutional-Grade Stablecoin Targets US Market
Charles Wayn, co-founder of decentralized Web3 super-app Galxe, told BeInCrypto that:
“The news that Tether is planning to launch an institutional-grade stablecoin for the US market is fantastic for the crypto industry. Tether pioneered stablecoins with its first launch over a decade ago in 2014, and its flagship product — USDT — is now the third largest cryptocurrency in the world. Unlike its rival, USDC, USDT has never been formally audited, leading to frequent questions over its balance sheet. Nonetheless, it remains the industry’s favored stablecoin, shown by its market cap of over $144 billion, which is well over double the size of USDC’s $60 billion.”
Wayn believes this move, along with Tether’s push for transparency, positions the company as a future leader in institutional crypto adoption.
“As such, this move, combined with other recent news that Tether is seeking a full audit from a Big Four accounting firm, shows that the company is not only willing to be compliant but also be a leader in institutional adoption. While USDT sadly did not pass the EU’s directive on stablecoins under MiCA, this new product will likely be designed to pass new legislation coming from the US.”
He adds that institutional momentum — fueled by players like BlackRock — reinforces why now is a pivotal moment for stablecoins and broader market stability.
“As such, there is little doubt that USDT will work hard to launch its new product in good time. As we see huge institutions like BlackRock further entering the market with another $66 million purchase of Bitcoin last week, along with the rapid growth of its RWA BUIDL fund, institutional adoption is now taking off rapidly.”
Crypto Chart of the Day
Total Stablecoin Market Cap and BTC Price. Source: Coinglass.
Stablecoins total market cap is currently close to its all-time highs, above $210 billion.
Byte-Sized Alpha
– Analysts warn that a return to Quantitative Easing in 2025 could ignite a massive crypto rally, potentially pushing Bitcoin toward $1 million and sparking a surge in altcoins.
– Zero inflows into Bitcoin ETFs and declining futures interest hint at fading investor confidence, though rising put contracts and positive funding rates point to cautious optimism.
– Galaxy Digital secures SEC approval to reorganize and move toward a May 2025 Nasdaq listing, signaling renewed confidence in crypto amid improving US policy support.
– Binance Research shows that during tariffs, RWA tokens outperform Bitcoin, as rising macro pressures weaken BTC’s role as a diversification asset.
– MicroStrategy’s pause in Bitcoin buying last week, amid $5.91 billion in unrealized losses, signals growing caution and raises questions about liquidity, debt, and broader institutional confidence.
Bitrace’s 2024 Crypto Crime Report shows that criminals moved $649 billion in stablecoins to high-risk addresses. Stablecoins’ total use in fraud and money laundering grew, but the legitimate sector grew even faster.
The report also tracked a few other components, like gambling and darknet markets. It highlighted the growing enforcement actions against stablecoin money laundering, as Tether and Circle froze over $1 billion in assets last year.
Stablecoins and Crypto Crime – A Concerning Trend?
Stablecoins are a vital component of the international crypto ecosystem, but they fulfill a similar role in crime. For example, crypto sleuth ZachXBT alleged last month that North Korean hackers have “epidemic” participation in this space.
Bitrace’s 2024 Crime Report details illicit activities all across the industry, but it focuses specifically on stablecoins.
Its data claimed that $649 billion in stablecoins went to high-risk addresses last year, a definite increase from 2023. However, these transactions only amounted to 5.14% of global stablecoin volume, a decrease from 5.94% the previous year.
In other words, the stablecoin sector is growing faster than its usage in crypto crime.
Naturally, Tether makes up the overwhelming majority of these transactions since it’s the most popular stablecoin. Tron and Ethereum were the most popular blockchains for USDT stablecoins, making up around 90% of the crime-related volume.
Ethereum’s presence grew relative to Tron, but the latter blockchain still represents more than 75% of transactions.
Stablecoins in Crypto Crime.
1/ Since 2022, stablecoins replaced Bitcoin as the preferred currency for illicit transactions. pic.twitter.com/FxExZHQky5
Bitrace’s Crypto Crime Report mostly focused on the stablecoin industry but also covered several other sectors.
For example, illicit trade on the darknet grew by more than $30 billion as vendors switched to DeFi to avoid law enforcement. Crypto gambling is also on the rise, increasing 17.5% to $217.84 billion.
However, the industry is also taking several initiatives of its own. Scams and frauds have ballooned last year, jumping from $12 billion in 2023 to $52 billion in 2024.
The quantity of total frozen assets grew by nearly $1 billion in 2024, double the amount of the past three years combined. This is far below the necessary amount, but hopefully these operations can scale up.
To summarize, stablecoins are a thriving component of crypto’s criminal underworld, but enforcement is becoming more determined and sophisticated.
If the industry continues to focus on fighting fraud and money laundering, it could make a real difference. Stablecoin’s legitimate uses dwarf this sector, and criminals’ total market share is decreasing.
Stablecoins in Crypto Crime. 