Cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun recently bought a banana duct-taped to the wall for $6.2 million, known as the Comedian. The sale happened at an art auction held at Sotheby’s in New York City on Wednesday, November 20.
The business executive has gained recognition as the founder of TRON and has acquired many companies throughout his career. He even serves as the CEO of BitTorrent and launched a stablecoin called USDD. As reported by Intelligence, Justin’s net worth currently stands at $1.4 billion.
Notably, the original price of the banana Comedian is estimated to be between $1 million and $1.5 million. The bidding price increased to almost $5 million during the recent auction. It was created by Italian artist and satirist Maurizio Cattelan, as per NBC News.
On the other hand, Justin Sun paid for the banana using crypto, as per USA Today. Justin also shared a post about the purchase through his official account on X (formerly Twitter) on November 21, 2024, where he added a video from the auction. He wrote in the post:
“This is not just an artwork; it represents a cultural phenomenon that bridges the worlds of art, memes, and the cryptocurrency community. I believe this piece will inspire more thought and discussion in the future and will become a part of history.”
Justin Sun further stated that he is honored to own Comedian and expects it to be an inspiration for all the “art enthusiasts around the world.” He ended by saying that he would eat the banana in the upcoming days, honoring its position in history and popular culture.
Justin Sun’s career as an entrepreneur has been his main source of income over the years
As mentioned, the Xining, Qinghai native is mostly known as the creator of the blockchain platform called TRON. Before his successful journey in the world of entrepreneurs, Justin was employed as a chief representative and adviser at Ripple Labs and he was only 23 at the time.
Following the launch of TRON, he paid $140 million for the acquisition of BitTorrent and renamed it to Rainberry Inc. Furthermore, he was also a part of the World Trade Organization for two years between 2021 and 2023, as reported by Crix 11.
Justin Sun earned a lot from his role in crypto projects alongside digital assets. He has additionally accumulated wealth from his investments in several blockchain technology companies.
As reported by the Intelligence, Justin Sun’s crypto holdings sum up to $1.43 billion. On the other hand, he has holdings of almost $230 million and $280 million in TRX tokens and USDD stablecoin respectively.
Sun has also been the CEO of TRON Foundation, which works on the development and maintenance of TRON Network, where the amount of his holdings is reported to be around $861 million. He exited the foundation in 2021.
Although Justin had previously acquired Poloniex and HTX, the price of the deals is yet to be made official. He has been a Global Advisor for the latter. TRON Network has also recorded transactions of around 2.5 billion, which sums up to $4 trillion per year.
Before launching TRON Network, Justin Sun formed an application similar to Snapchat, called Peiwo. He obtained his graduation from the University of Pennsylvania and later enrolled at the China-based Hupan University.
Edited by Bharath S
