Elon Musk’s Father Backs ‘MUSK IT’ Memecoin in $200M Fundraising Bid for Engineering Projects
While Elon Musk’s involvement in memecoins has largely revolved around Dogecoin, his father is taking a different approach.
Errol Musk, father of the Tesla and SpaceX CEO, is lending his name to a newly launched cryptocurrency, “MUSK IT,” with the goal of raising up to $200 million for ambitious engineering initiatives. Despite the well-known estrangement between the two, Errol is moving forward with plans to leverage the Musk brand for his venture.
In collaboration with business partner Nathan Browne, Errol Musk aims to use the funds to establish the Musk Institute—a for-profit think tank dedicated to pushing technological boundaries beyond space exploration. According to Fortune, the institute will focus on developing flying vehicles and other advanced scientific innovations. However, it remains unclear whether Elon Musk has any connection to the project.
“I’m the head of the family. It all started with me—I’ve been ‘Musking It’ for years,” Errol Musk told Fortune, dismissing concerns about capitalizing on his surname.
The Musk Institute is reportedly seeking partnerships with Middle Eastern investors, particularly royalty from the UAE, to advance its engineering goals. However, details on specific projects and timelines remain scarce.
Initially launched by a Middle East-based crypto firm in December, the MUSK IT token later onboarded Errol Musk and Browne, who linked it to the vision of the Musk Institute.
As of Friday, the token holds a market capitalization of $25 million, with $79 million in trading volume over the past 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap. The token, built on Solana via Pump.fun, has one billion tokens in circulation. Trading data reveals 44,000 holders, with the top ten wallets collectively controlling over 20% of the supply—worth more than $7 million at current valuations.
Following the Fortune article’s publication, MUSK IT surged from $0.01 to $0.20 before retreating to just over $0.02 during Asian trading hours, reflecting its low liquidity and speculative nature.
Despite its growing popularity, key aspects of the token’s functionality and economic model remain unclear. Neither Errol Musk nor Browne has provided details on its structure or long-term plans.
The project joins a growing list of so-called “celebrity tokens”—memecoins that attract short-term hype before fading. However, Errol Musk and Browne have insisted that MUSK IT “cannot be a pump and dump” scheme.
Interestingly, despite having no direct connection to Elon Musk, the official MUSK IT website prominently features imagery of his ventures, including a SpaceX rocket and a Tesla Cybertruck, with a cryptic “Mars Base; Opening Soon” message displayed on the homepage.
