The Chinese-born cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun made headlines across the world after devouring the $6.2 million banana art he purchased earlier in the month.
In 2019, Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, who gained fame by mocking the art world, purchased a banana for $0.35 from an NYC vendor and duct-taped it to a wall at the Art Basel Miami Beach that showcases prominent artists across the world. In mid-November 2024, the cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun (33), who founded the Tron blockchain, purchased the banana for a staggering $6.2 million and vowed to eat the banana.
During a news conference On Friday, November 29, in Hong Kong, he did just that as he peeled the banana in front of a large audience and proceeded to eat it. Sun didn’t stop there. The Chinese entrepreneur, whose net worth is estimated to be at least $1.4 billion, vowed to purchase 100,000 bananas from the same NYC vendor, Shah Alam, and distribute them across the world. In a tweet on X on Thursday 28, he said:
“To thank Mr. Shah Alam, I’ve decided to buy 100,000 bananas from his stand in New York's Upper East Side. These bananas will be distributed free worldwide through his stand. Show a valid ID to claim one banana, while supplies last.”
In another tweet, Sun detailed his experience eating the most expensive banana in the world. He said:
"Many friends have asked me about the taste of the banana. To be honest, for a banana with such a back story, the taste is naturally different from an ordinary one. I could discern a hint of what Big Mike bananas from 100 years ago might have tasted like.”
Big Mike bananas, or Gros Michel bananas, were the original bananas that popularized the fruit in areas it couldn’t be grown. It was the only variety of bananas that dominated the U.S. until the 1950s before it was replaced by Cavendish.
Who is Justin Sun, the Chinese billionaire who devoured a $6.2 million banana?
According to The Verge, Justin Sun, who was born in China as Sūn Yǔchén, left home early to study the strategy game Go in Wuhan and attended business classes at the Zhejiang Hupan Entrepreneurship Research Center, founded by Alibaba founder Jack Ma. He graduated in 2018.
The Verge reported Sun, who founded the social media app Peiwo (Accompany Me) in 2013, aspired to turn it into China's Snapchat. However, the app was banned from major virtual stores like Apple and Google Android for disrupting socialist values.
Sun then founded the Tron blockchain, one of the most profitable entities in the industry. The blockchain, popular in Asia, founded in 2017, raised about $70 million after selling a proprietary crypto token called TRX, which currently has 86 billion tokens in circulation.
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A year after launching the Tron Blockchain, Justin Sun purchased file-sharing pioneer BitTorrent Inc. for $140 million. Prior to purchasing a banana for millions, Sun, who describes himself as a “crypto Whiz Kid,” gained attention after winning a $4.6 million charity lunch with Warren Buffett in 2019.
Recently Justin Sun also announced he was investing $30 million in president-elect Donald Trump’s crypto project, World Liberty Tokens.
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