Errol Musk, the daddy of tech billionaire Elon Musk, is backing a brand new memecoin known as “Musk It” to lift between $150 million and $200 million for the Musk Institute—a newly established for-profit suppose tank centered on scientific analysis and innovation.
In line with a Fortune report, Errol Musk and his enterprise companion, Nathan Browne, are main the initiative independently of his son, Elon Musk. Nonetheless, Errol Musk acknowledges that traders could affiliate the token with the Tesla CEO due to his prominence within the tech and crypto industries.
Regardless, Errol seems unconcerned in regards to the hypothesis, emphasizing his position within the Musk household’s legacy:
“I’m the top of the household. It actually began with me in our household—I’ve been ‘Musking It’ for years.”
Regardless of his long-standing engagement with the crypto trade, Elon Musk has repeatedly acknowledged that neither he nor his firms plan to subject a token.
Errol, nevertheless, says his inspiration for launching MUSKIT got here after attending a SpaceX occasion in late 2023. On the occasion, Elon reportedly credited his father for instructing him the basics of engineering.
In the meantime, public experiences recommend the father-son relationship has been strained over time. Walter Isaacson’s 2023 biography of Elon Musk detailed previous tensions, together with allegations of verbal abuse throughout Elon’s childhood.
Nonetheless, Errol has denied these claims, dismissing experiences that he was estranged from his kids or had been abusive towards Elon’s mom, Maye Musk.
Musk It
Knowledge from DEXScreener signifies that a number of memecoins utilizing the “Musk” branding have appeared throughout networks similar to Solana, Base, and Ethereum.
Nonetheless, the unique Musk It token was launched in December 2024 by a Center Jap crypto agency by way of the Solana-based memecoin platform Pump.enjoyable.
The challenge’s official X web page describes it as a “coin of revolution, progress, and breaking boundaries.”
Solscan knowledge reveals that the token has a complete provide of 1 billion, with its prime 10 holders controlling 22.79% of the availability, whereas the remaining is distributed amongst different traders.
Following Errol Musk’s endorsement, Musk It surged 300%, reaching an all-time excessive of $0.3322 earlier than barely retracting to $0.03599. Buying and selling quantity additionally noticed an 8,000% enhance, surpassing $80 million in the course of the reporting interval, in line with CoinMarketCap knowledge.
Neighborhood response
Musk It’s rise comes amid a rising pattern of celebrity-backed and politically linked memecoins, together with these related to US President Donald Trump.
This wave has sparked criticism from trade leaders, together with billionaire investor Mark Cuban, who has known as for higher oversight of memecoins as a consequence of their unchecked progress.
He acknowledged:
“There are 1m tokens every week as a result of there isn’t a registration. We’d like a easy registration kind that’s tailor-made in direction of meme cash. There are sufficient KYC instruments that may make it identical day approval, with a charge to cowl prices. In any other case the junk will overwhelm the restricted high quality and damage the trade.”
