Cryptocurrency entrepreneur who bought banana art for $6.2m eats the fruit in Hong Kong

A cryptocurrency entrepreneur who bought a chunk of conceptual art consisting of a easy banana, duct-taped to a wall, for $6.2 million final week ate the fruit in Hong Kong on Friday (29 November).

Chinese language-born Justin Solar peeled off the duct tape and loved the banana in a press convention held in The Peninsula Hong Kong, one among the metropolis’s priciest lodges, in the in style buying district of Tsim Sha Tsui.

“It tastes significantly better than different bananas. Certainly, fairly good,” he mentioned.

“Comic,” by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, was a phenomenon when it debuted in 2019 at Art Basel Miami Seaside, as festivalgoers tried to make out whether or not the single yellow piece of fruit affixed to a white wall with silver duct tape was a joke or a cheeky commentary on questionable requirements amongst art collectors. At one level, one other artist took the banana off the wall and ate it.

The piece attracted a lot consideration that it needed to be withdrawn from view. However three editions bought for between $120,000 and $150,000, in keeping with the gallery dealing with gross sales at the time.

Final week, Solar, founding father of cryptocurrency platform TRON, made the profitable bid at the Sotheby’s public sale in New York. Or, extra precisely, Solar bought a certificates of authenticity that provides him the authority to duct-tape a banana to a wall and name it “Comic.”

At the time, Solar mentioned in an announcement that the piece “represents a cultural phenomenon that bridges the worlds of art, memes, and the cryptocurrency group.”

“I’ll personally eat the banana as a part of this distinctive inventive expertise, honouring its place in each art historical past and in style tradition,” he mentioned.

The South China Morning Put up reported the banana he ate on Friday was bought in Hong Kong.

Solar on Tuesday introduced on X he had invested $30 million in World Liberty Monetary, which was launched by US President-elect Donald Trump in September as his household’s cryptocurrency enterprise.

Solar mentioned in the submit that his platform, TRON, is “dedicated to creating America nice once more and main innovation.” Following his funding in Trump’s enterprise, he turned an advisor of World Liberty Monetary.

Final yr, Solar was charged by the US Securities and Change Fee with fraud and different securities legislation violations. In response, he mentioned on X the criticism “lacks advantage.”