Interview: Tong, PANews

Written by: Zen, PANews

The "slash youth" Sun Yuchen has recently added two more titles to his resume: "Holder of the Cattelan Banana" and "World Freedom Financial Advisor and Largest Investor in President Trump's Crypto Project."

The last time Sun Yuchen made headlines was in 2019 when he bid $4.567888 million for a charity lunch with Warren Buffett. This time, he did not expect that the banana he purchased for $6.24 million would garner unprecedented attention. "Even my relatives in the village saw the news and asked me about it." On November 29, Sun Yuchen held a press conference at the Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong specifically for the banana, and publicly ate it.

After the event, Sun Yuchen accepted an exclusive interview with PANews. In addition to supporting Hong Kong as a hub for art and Web3, he has heavily invested in Trump's crypto project and is optimistic about the development of the U.S. crypto market, expressing confidence for 2025.

The World's Most Expensive Banana Draws Global Attention

Sotheby's auctioneer Bark remarked as the bidding price soared, "I never thought I would say 'a banana for $5 million'." Ultimately, the banana sold for $5.2 million, with the total price including fees reaching $6.24 million, which Sun Yuchen paid 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 seven bidders, and I actually thought I might not win it, so I set a bottom line for myself. If it exceeded $5 million by a lot, I wouldn't buy it." Sun Yuchen stated that within 10 seconds of successfully winning the bid, he felt a bit incredulous, as he initially approached it with a mindset of just joining the fun. Soon after, global media began sending interview requests, which surprised him, leading him to decide to eat the banana and become a part of its history.

According to reports, the banana was purchased that morning by Sotheby's staff from a fruit stand in Manhattan's Upper East Side. The fruit stand owner, who is from Bangladesh, revealed that the banana was priced at 35 cents. This means the auction price was 14.85 million times the banana's actual value.

"The 'most expensive banana in history' successfully landed on major news and social media hot searches, and the expensive auction itself is a true representation of the work's meaning." The conceptual art piece "Comedian" by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan looks like a fresh banana taped to a wall. Its original intent is to humorously and absurdly challenge the audience's traditional understanding of art. Through an ordinary banana, it explores the value of art, the nature of consumerism, and the absurdity of the art market, aiming to satirize market speculation. Before the auction, the BAN Meme coin launched by Sotheby's vice president also successfully generated buzz in the crypto circle, with BAN's market cap reaching as high as $378 million. It was this Meme coin that caught Sun Yuchen's attention regarding the banana auction.

In fact, there are only three pieces of this work in total, two of which were sold in 2019 for $120,000, and the third was donated to the Guggenheim Museum. Each "piece" comes with a corresponding certificate of authenticity and installation instructions, allowing the owner to replace the banana at any time according to their wishes. Therefore, even if Sun Yuchen eats this banana, he can still replace it with another one. Previously, when the work was exhibited in Miami and Korea, it was also 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 thoughts and discussions in the future and will become a part of history."

In Sun Yuchen's view, this banana aligns with the spirit of blockchain. "It can be freely assembled and exhibited anywhere, as long as I give my authorization. This is also a form of decentralization, akin to the charm of blockchain and the crypto world."

In fact, Sun Yuchen had previously attempted to combine art and the crypto community. In 2021, when the NFT concept was booming, he donated his holdings of Picasso's "Nude Woman with Necklace," crypto artist Beeple's "Ocean’s Front," "ABUNBANCE" (five pieces), and the entire NFT collection "Cube" by crypto artist Pak to the APENFT Foundation, with a total value exceeding 200 million RMB, all aimed at exploring "art + blockchain."

The $6.24 million banana is undoubtedly expensive, but it has successfully drawn global attention.

Efforts to Convince Trump to Develop on TRON, 2025 is a Big Year for Crypto

In Sun Yuchen's mind, being a banana holder is just an amateur label, while his recently added title of "World Freedom Financial Advisor and Largest Investor in President Trump's Crypto Project" has also gained widespread attention.

Public reports indicate 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, and that we need mass adoption. People often ask questions like, 'What exactly are you doing? What is the use of this?' My view is quite the opposite; I believe our industry’s technology and everything is ready. It's just that regulatory issues have prevented us from using it and have imposed restrictions."

In Sun Yuchen's view, for example, the stablecoin on TRON is the most typical case. The innovation of stablecoin technology far exceeds that of banks and SWIFT, but it is still restricted in many places. Regulation needs to start from 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 with WLFI about how crypto thinks and what direction is easiest to take to attract the most customers. We have a strong synergy." The World Freedom Financial project aims to combine traditional finance with blockchain, hoping to allow traditional banks to deposit money into DeFi, enabling DeFi funds to also enter traditional finance.

Sun Yuchen stated that he will also work to convince Trump to develop DeFi on TRON. If WDFI issues a new U.S. dollar stablecoin in the future, he will suggest that it be issued on TRON. Currently, USDT is mostly used on exchanges and for some payments, but it has not yet entered everyone's daily life. "I believe that with WLFI, we can bring DeFi, including TRON, into everyone's life. This is my dream."

"I believe 2025 will indeed be a big year. The four-year cycle in the crypto industry is very clear, and now it is 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 once bought Bitcoin for $0.5 on Taobao, and in an era when price sensitivity was low, when it rose to 10 yuan, everyone thought it was crazy.

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