Elon Musk proposes TITS university, Dogecoin surges

The price of Dogecoin surged after billionaire Elon Musk suggested founding a university in his new home state with a cheeky name.

The price of dogecoin has surged after Elon Musk said he was thinking of starting a new university called the Texas Institute of Technology & Science.

His proposed university, which would have the acronym TITS, was widely understood to be a cheeky joke.

“It will have epic merch,” the Tesla wrote on Twitter. “Universally admired.”

It’s not clear how serious the mega-billionaire is about the new university.

His tweet however, received more than half a million likes on Twitter.

Billionaire Elon Musk has proposed founding a new university, the Texas Institute of Technology & Science/ AFP

Am thinking of starting new university:
Texas Institute of Technology & Science

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 29, 2021

Crypto investor Morgan Sarkissian wrote in response, “It’s official [Elon Musk] likes and supports boobies.”

“What gave it away!?” the SpaceX founder replied.

The humour didn’t go down well with everyone though.

“As a shareholder and customer, this is really a puzzling and disappointing attempt at humour. We are trying to encourage more women to pursue technology degrees and careers. I cannot see how this helps that effort in any way,” Cisco’s Eric Wenger wrote.

Crypto surge

Mr Musk followed up with the quip, “Tuition is in Dogecoin & u get a discount if u have a dog.”

The price of dogecoin jumped soon afterwards.

$3 billion in Doge market cap added since this tweet. pic.twitter.com/4nYY3IrZEV

— TradingView (@tradingview) October 31, 2021

Mr Musk — worth an estimated US$302 billion — has been ramping up his presence and that of his companies in Texas.

Last year, he announced that he was personally moving to the Lone Star State — where there’s no personal income tax — and earlier this month he announced that his electric car company would move its headquarters to the Austin area as well.

Tesla will continue to expand its massive plant in Fremont, California, but Musk has said the company plans to begin production at its new factory in Austin next year.

Elon Musk has announced he is moving to Texas. Picture: Robyn Beck / AFP

Mr Musk’s own feelings about university, though, have been lukewarm.

He’s repeatedly derided the experience, saying last year that colleges are “for fun and to prove that you can do your chores, but they’re not for learning”.

He’s also said Tesla won’t have university requirements for jobs, “because that’s absurd”.

Beyond jokes, Mr Musk has a history of making raunchy acronyms in his business operations, including by planning the rollout of Tesla’s Models S, 3, X and Y vehicles to spell out S.3.X.Y. on the company’s website.

Hinting at expansion

Musk’s two other companies, SpaceX and The Boring Company, are both still based in Hawthorne, California.

But SpaceX’s launch site, dubbed Starbase, sits in southeast Texas, near Boca Chica, an unincorporated seaside village in Cameron County. Musk has sought to expand the Starbase and actually create an incorporated US city in the area.

And The Boring Company has previously hinted of a similar expansion to Texas by teasing job postings in the state.

And the San Antonio Express-News reported earlier this year that the company is in talks with San Antonio and Austin officials to create an underground transportation loop in Central Texas, like the one that opened this summer in Las Vegas.

Musk isn’t the only tech billionaire to expand his operations in Texas. Other major technology companies, including Oracle and Hewlett Packard, have left California for Texas in the past year.

State officials have been courting companies to make the move, dangling big-time tax breaks to put new facilities in the state through the Texas Economic Development Act.

And Austin, with its relatively low cost of living, strong university as well as popular events like South by Southwest, has been a hot spot for tech companies and their workers.

– with the New York Post