Elon Musk's latest name change on X fuels more memecoin pump-and-dumps

Elon Musk’s latest X profile change to “Harry Bōlz” sparked another memecoin frenzy on Tuesday as tokens using the name saw swift pump and dumps.

One Solana-based HARRYBOLZ token, which had already been created on Feb. 7, surged to a peak price of $0.025 following Musk’s name change — equivalent to a market cap of approximately $25 million. However, it subsequently plunged 97% to $0.0008, a market cap of around $800,000, as the Tesla and SpaceX CEO reverted to his real name, having generated nearly $100 million in 24-hour trading volume, according to DEX Screener.

A lucky wallet labeled “LeBron,” who previously made $8.9 million and $3.2 million on the official TRUMP and MELANIA memecoins, respectively — spent 25 SOL ($4,900) to buy 128.8 million HARRYBOLZ on launch day, then sold 109.9 million of the tokens for 3,649 SOL ($737,000) on Tuesday, according to blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain.

Another Solana-based HarryBolz token, launched after Musk’s name change, shot up to a market cap peak of $8.4 million before collapsing more than 99% to just $75,000. The top trader of that token only made a profit of around $10,000 , however, per DEX Screener.

Numerous copycat tokens were also launched on Solana with much lower trading volumes but similar results.

It’s not the first time the X owner has changed his profile to Harry Bōlz, referencing the slang term "hairy balls," having also done so in April 2023, simply to try and get media publications to refer to him by the name.

On New Year’s Eve, Musk also briefly switched his profile name to “Kekius Maximus,” combining "kek," a slang term associated with humor and absurdity, with "Maximus," referencing the Maximus Decimus Meridius character from the 2000 film Gladiator.

The main Kekius Maximus memecoin soared more than 30x from a market cap of around $12 million ahead of Musk adopting the name to over $380 million at its peak before plummeting over 75% after he returned to using his real name.

Harry Bōlz for President?

Musk's latest use of Harry Bōlz is also believed to be in solidarity with Edward Coristine, also known by the alias “big balls.” Coristine is a staff member at the new Musk-led federal cost savings unit, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and was also recently appointed as a senior adviser in the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Technology, among similar roles at other departments.

Coristine’s appointment has raised concerns among some critics about his potential access to sensitive national security data due to his age, lack of experience and a past incident where he was reportedly fired for leaking information, as well as the growing reach of his tech billionaire boss into the United States’ diplomatic apparatus, according to the Washington Post. Coristine also briefly worked for Musk’s brain chip start-up Neuralink.

Not to miss out on the social media frenzy, decentralized predictions platform Polymarket , known for a wide array of crypto and political bets, joked via its official X account that Harry Bōlz had taken a decisive 94% lead over Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2040 presidential election odds.