Chinese-born cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun has made headlines after eating a banana from a $6.2m (£4.9m) artwork he purchased. The artwork, titled Comedian, was created by Maurizio Cattelan in 2019 and consists of a banana duct-taped to a wall. Sun won the piece at a Sotheby’s auction in New York, outbidding six others.
At a press conference in Hong Kong, Sun ate the banana in front of reporters, drawing parallels between the artwork and cryptocurrency. He stated that the act of eating it could become part of the artwork’s evolving history. Comedian is notable for requiring the banana to be regularly replaced, with Sun’s purchase including the display rights and replacement instructions.
This isn’t the first time the banana has been eaten. A performance artist consumed it in 2019, followed by a South Korean student in 2023, but neither paid for the privilege. “It’s much better than other bananas,” Sun remarked, jokingly addressing questions about whether the fruit rotted.
Attendees at the event received bananas and duct tape as souvenirs, with Sun standing beside a re-taped banana and two people dressed as auctioneers. Sun runs the Tron blockchain network, where cryptocurrencies are traded. He compared the artwork to NFTs—digital assets with value determined solely by market perception.
Sun, who recently invested $30m in a crypto project backed by Donald Trump, faces charges from US regulators over unregistered security tokens. He denies the allegations, and the case remains ongoing.
