Interview: Tong, PANews
Written by: Zen, PANews
The “slash youth” Sun Yuchen recently added two more titles: “Cattelan Banana Holder” and “World Liberty Financial Advisor and Largest Investor for U.S. President Trump’s Crypto Project.”
The last time Sun Yuchen made headlines with an auction was in 2019 when he bid $4.567888 million for a charity lunch with Buffett. This time, he also did not expect that the banana he acquired for $6.24 million would garner unprecedented attention. “Even my relatives in the village saw the news and came to ask me.” On November 29, Sun Yuchen held a release event for the banana at the Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong and publicly ate the banana.
After the meeting, Sun Yuchen accepted an exclusive interview with PANews. Besides supporting Hong Kong as a hub for art and Web3, he, having invested heavily in Trump's crypto project, is optimistic about the development of the U.S. crypto market and is full of confidence for 2025.
The world's most expensive banana has drawn global attention.
Sotheby's auctioneer Bark remarked as the bidding price kept rising: “I never thought I would say ‘a banana for $5 million.’” Ultimately, this banana was sold for $5.2 million, and the total transaction price, including the fee, reached $6.24 million, with Sun Yuchen paying the auction fees in cryptocurrency.
Before the auction, Sun Yuchen's team estimated the banana's value to be between $2 million and $5 million. “There were a total of 7 bidders, and at that time, I actually thought I might not win the bid, so I set a bottom price for myself; if it exceeded $5 million by a lot, I wouldn’t buy it.” Sun Yuchen stated that within 10 seconds of successfully bidding, he found it a bit hard to believe, considering he initially participated just for fun. Soon after, interview invitations from global media started pouring in, which surprised him. He then decided to eat the banana, becoming a part of its history.
Reportedly, this banana was purchased by a Sotheby's staff member that morning from a fruit stand in Manhattan's Upper East Side. The owner of the fruit stand, who is from Bangladesh, revealed that the banana was priced at 35 cents. This means that the auction price was 14.85 million times the actual value of the banana.
The “most expensive banana in history” successfully made headlines across major news and social media platforms, and the expensive auction itself is a true reflection of the meaning behind the work. Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan's conceptual art piece (Comedian), which looks like a fresh banana taped to a wall, originally aimed to humorously and absurdly challenge the audience's traditional perceptions of art. Through an ordinary banana, it explores the value of art, the nature of consumerism, and the absurdity of the art market, intending to satirize market speculation. Prior to the auction, the BAN Meme coin launched by a Sotheby's vice president also successfully warmed up this auction event within the crypto circle, with BAN's market value reaching as high as $378 million. It was this Meme coin that drew Sun Yuchen's attention to the banana auction.
In fact, there are only three of these works in total, two of which were sold in 2019 for $120,000, and the third was donated to the Guggenheim Museum. Each “work” comes with a corresponding certificate of authenticity and installation instructions, allowing the owner to replace the banana at any time according to their wishes. So even if Sun Yuchen eats this banana, he can replace it with another one. Previously, when this work was exhibited in Miami and Korea, it had also been eaten by viewers.
“This is not just a piece of art; it represents a cultural phenomenon that connects the art, meme, and cryptocurrency communities. I believe this work will inspire more thought and discussion in the future and will become a part of history.”
In Sun Yuchen's eyes, this banana also resonates with the spirit of blockchain. “It can be freely assembled and exhibited anywhere, as long as I grant my permission; this is akin to the charm of decentralization, similar to the blockchain and crypto world.”
In fact, Sun Yuchen had previously attempted to combine art with the cryptocurrency community. In 2021, when the NFT concept was hot, he donated his holdings of Picasso's (Nude Woman with Necklace), crypto artist Beeple's (Ocean’s Front), (ABUNBANCE) (5 pieces), and a complete set of NFT works by crypto artist Pak (Cube) to the APENFT Foundation. The total value of these masterpieces exceeded 200 million RMB, all used for the APENFT Foundation's exploration in “Art + Blockchain.”
A $6.24 million banana is indeed expensive, but it successfully attracted global attention.
Will work to persuade Trump to develop on the TRON platform; 2025 is a big year for cryptocurrency.
In Sun Yuchen's view, the banana holder is merely an amateur label, while his recently added title of “World Liberty Financial Advisor and Largest Investor for U.S. President Trump’s Crypto Project” has also received widespread attention.
Public reports show that Sun Yuchen invested $30 million in World Liberty Financial (WLFI), making him the largest investor in the project.
When asked why he invested in WLFI, Sun Yuchen said, “I have been in this industry for 12 years, experiencing three cycles. Many people may feel that our industry still lacks technological development and many things are not enough; we still need mass adoption. People often ask questions like, ‘What exactly are you doing? What is its use?’ My view is quite the opposite; I believe our industry’s technology and everything are ready. It’s just that various regulatory reasons have prevented us from using them.”
In Sun Yuchen's view, for example, stablecoins on the TRON platform are the most typical case. The technological innovation of stablecoins should surpass banks and SWIFT, but it is still restricted in many places. Regulation needs to start in the U.S. because the U.S. serves as a model for all countries, and everyone looks to the U.S. example.
“After all, I understand crypto, so I can share a lot of information on how crypto thinks, what direction is easiest to take, and how to gain the most customers with WLFI. We have a strong synergistic effect. The World Liberty Financial project aims to combine traditional finance with blockchain, hoping to allow traditional banks to deposit money into DeFi, so that money from DeFi can also enter traditional finance.
Sun Yuchen stated that he would also persuade Trump to develop DeFi on the TRON platform. If WDFI issues a new USD stablecoin in the future, he would suggest it be issued on the TRON platform. Currently, most USDT is used on exchanges and for some payments, but it has not yet entered everyone’s life. “I believe that with WLFI, DeFi, including TRON, can enter everyone’s life. That’s a dream of mine.”
“I think 2025 will indeed be a big year. The four-year cycle of the crypto industry is very clear, and now it’s compounded by Trump’s election and a regulatory-friendly environment. However, I won’t predict prices because prices can sometimes exceed your expectations.” Sun Yuchen recalled that he had once bought Bitcoin for $0.5 on Taobao, and in the era of price insensitivity, when it rose to 10 yuan, everyone thought it was crazy.
