The founder of a notable cryptocurrency platform surprised everyone after making an unexpected purchase of a bizarre work of art.
Crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun now owns the controversial one banana channel taped to a wall artworks that some analysts suggest could be integrated into Sun’s digital asset platform using the APENFT.
Turning art into NFTs
Maurizio Cattelan’s iconic masterpiece “Comedian” has been purchased by the founder of TRON a whopping $6.2 million. Like many people around the world, Sun seems to be fascinated by the ‘banana duct-taped on a wall’ art.
Some observers said Sun saw something beyond the beauty of the artwork, suggesting the crypto entrepreneur may be interested in using the art in his blockchain ecosystem.
Analysts believe that Justin Sun is incorporating the artworks he has collected into the TRON Network with the help of APENFT, and says that Sun’s true goal in art collecting is to convert these masterpieces into non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Under the crypto platform, the TRC-721 NFT standard enables the creation and transaction of digital art.
The crypto platform is known to be the third largest chain when it comes to total value locked (TVL). DeFiLlama estimated that the network dominates nearly 7% of the TVL market with its 34 protocols.
As of Thursday, the market cap of cryptocurrencies reached $3.18 trillion. Chart: TradingView
A symbolic gesture?
Reports said the TRON director’s purchase of the banana duct tape on a wall artwork could be a “symbolic gesture” to integrate the artwork into the digital NFT space.
The APENFT Foundation, founded by the crypto founder, buys works of art. These masterpieces are then turned into digitally visible pieces in the APENFT Virtual Museum in the Cryptovoxels metaverse.
TRON Founder Justin Sun. Image: Kryptomoney
Analysts said the APENFT Marketplace, an NFT trading platform launched by APENFT on TRON, features collections such as TPunks and TronMe. The crypto network also features TronVerse, a play-to-earn game that uses NFTs.
Using the platform’s TRC-721 standard and the APENFT ecosystem, the crypto entrepreneur can create an art exhibition in the metaverse and establish TRON as a major NFT player.
Other art collections
As an art collector, Justin Sun invests in acquiring top works of art. Sun viewed the “comedian” as more than a banana on duct tape.
“It represents a cultural phenomenon that bridges the worlds of art, memes and the cryptocurrency community,” he said.
Reports said the TRON founder was able to beat the bids of six other individuals to take home the contemporary artwork.
In addition to the ‘Comedian’, Sun previously bought ‘Le Nez’ by Alberto Giacometti for $78.4 million at auction in 2021. He also paid $20 million to acquire one of the masterpieces of the famous painter Pablo Picasso.
The crypto founder is also the proud owner of Andy Warhol’s Three Self-Portraits, which he purchased for $2 million at Christie’s 20th Century Art Evening Sale.
Featured image of Kena Betancur/AFP/Getty Images/AFP, chart from TradingView