Errol Musk, the daddy of tech billionaire Elon Musk, is backing a brand new memecoin referred to as “Musk It” to boost between $150 million and $200 million for the Musk Institute—a newly established for-profit suppose tank centered on scientific analysis and innovation.
Based on 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 might affiliate the token with the Tesla CEO due to his prominence within the tech and crypto industries.
Regardless, Errol seems unconcerned concerning 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 business, Elon Musk has repeatedly acknowledged that neither he nor his firms plan to situation a token.
Errol, nonetheless, 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 educating him the basics of engineering.
In the meantime, public reviews counsel 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 reviews that he was estranged from his youngsters 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 reminiscent of Solana, Base, and Ethereum.
Nonetheless, the unique Musk It token was launched in December 2024 by a Center Jap crypto agency via the Solana-based memecoin platform Pump.enjoyable.
The mission’s official X web page describes it as a “coin of revolution, progress, and breaking limitations.”
Solscan information reveals that the token has a complete provide of 1 billion, with its high 10 holders controlling 22.79% of the availability, whereas the remainder 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% improve, surpassing $80 million throughout the reporting interval, in response to CoinMarketCap information.
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 business leaders, together with billionaire investor Mark Cuban, who has referred to as for higher oversight of memecoins as a result of their unchecked development.
He acknowledged:
“There are 1m tokens every week as a result of there isn’t a registration. We’d like a easy registration type that’s tailor-made in direction of meme cash. There are sufficient KYC instruments that may make it identical day approval, with a price to cowl prices. In any other case the junk will overwhelm the restricted high quality and harm the business.”
