If you’re paying attention to the expensive art banana it’s easy to miss the enormous crypto investment going to President-Elect Donald Trump. On November 25, crypto millionaire Justin Sun pumped $30 million into World Liberty Financial, Trump’s home-grown cryptocurrency project. The move met a threshold for the coin and dumped money into Trump’s pocket, somewhere between $15 and $18 million.
Four days after buying the incoming president’s crypto, Sun ate a banana he’d paid $6.2 million for at a Sotheby’s auction in front of an international audience. No one much thought about the $30 million while Sun shoveled the banana into his mouth in Hong Kong. (Sun’s art investment lost no value, the certificate of authenticity is all that matters to collectors.)
On November 26, one day after he bought a bunch of Trump’s coins and a few days before he ate the banana, World Liberty Financial announced Sun was joining the company—such as it is—as an advisor.
Sun’s pinned tweet is about the cryptocurrency. “We are thrilled to invest $30 million in World Liberty Financial…as its largest investor. The U.S. is becoming the blockchain hub, and Bitcoin owes it to @realDonaldTrump!” Sun said in a post pinned to his profile on X. “TRON is committed to making America great again and leading innovation. Let’s go!”
We are thrilled to invest $30 million in World Liberty Financial @worldlibertyfi as its largest investor. The U.S. is becoming the blockchain hub, and Bitcoin owes it to @realDonaldTrump! TRON is committed to making America great again and leading innovation. Let's go! pic.twitter.com/cISTsVYP1f
— H.E. Justin Sun 🍌 (@justinsuntron) November 25, 2024
“We’re excited about the momentum experienced by World Liberty Financial, and this sizable purchase of WLF tokens underscores the early success of this project. Indeed, there have been several significant purchases in recent weeks, and we are confident in our future success as we build a platform that promotes freer and fairer finance. We expect more such developments to happen in the coming weeks and months,” World Liberty Financial said in a statement.
WLF is a weird company, even compared to other crypto concerns. “WLF is not a decentralized autonomous organization (a ‘DAO’),” it explained in a white paper filed with the SEC. “Rather, WLF is a Delaware non-stock corporation with a board of directors, but as a non-stock corporation, it does not have stockholders (although it does have members, who are currently the board of directors of WLF). Its only current assets are intellectual property licenses and agreements with service providers. $WLFI is not equity or a share in any entity, and does not confer any financial interests in any entity, and $WLFI holders are not members of WLF.”
WLF’s plan was to sell $300 million in tokens and hold onto millions more for its principal stakeholders. That would value the company at $1.5 billion, but its initial offerings didn’t sell well. The white paper said that $30 million had been set aside to cover startup costs and that the full value of the token for its owners wouldn’t unlock until that value was met. Sun met that value with one large payment.
On the day after Thanksgiving, Sun pulled back duct tape from a banana and ate it. This was no ordinary banana, it was the controversial art piece Comedian by renowned artist Maurizio Cattelan. Sun bought Comedian from Sotheby’s for $6.2 million. Comedian has been up since 2019. The banana is replaced every few days from a local market. They cost 25 cents.
When The New York Times tracked down the vendor who sold the banana, Shah Alam, and told him what had become of the fruit, he cried. On X, Sun promised to buy 100,000 bananas from the man. According to the vendor, the bulk order would create a logistical nightmare that wouldn’t earn him much money.
On X, Sun offered platitudes. “Mr. Alam’s contribution to this extraordinary artwork is indispensable, highlighting the boundless possibilities and value hidden in everyday life,” he said. “I hope this initiative will bring his story to a broader audience and, one day, I look forward to visiting his fruit stand in person to express my gratitude again.”
Plans to purchase bananas in motion, a work of art defiled and eaten, Sun continued to post on social media and brag about the investment he’d made in the future of Trump’s America. In a November 30th post, Sun showed off a team of people in TRON DAO gear holding up bananas in front of the Trump International Hotel in NYC.
Currently: In New York with bananas. pic.twitter.com/2NAECDokfC
— TRON DAO (@trondao) November 30, 2024
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English (US) ·