2024.11.29 The South China Morning Post reported the banana he ate on Friday was bought in Hong Kong
Chinese-born buyer of US$6.2 million banana art eats it in Hong Kong hotel stunt
Cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun praises artist for creating Comedian artwork, before downing it on live stream at The Peninsula hotel
Chinese-born crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun live-streamed himself at The Peninsula Hong Kong hotel on Friday eating the banana from an artwork for which he paid US$6.2 million at auction in New York.
The banana was not the actual one that Sotheby’s sold him – that one was bought last week from a streetside fruit vendor outside the auction house in Manhattan.
“This one was just bought in Hong Kong,” he told the Post at the event organised by Tron, the blockchain company he founded in 2017.
Sun began by giving a long speech in Mandarin about the significance of Comedian, the artwork created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan in 2019.
2024.11.25 Banana auction billionaire’s $30 million investment in Trump’s crypto token highlights new ways to enrich president-elect
Trump’s Sluggish DeFi Project Gets a Big Boost From Justin Sun’s $30M Token Purchase
The investment by Sun, best known for creating the TRON blockchain, comes after World Liberty Financial saw slow initial sales of its WLFI token.
The Donald Trump-backed cryptocurrency platform World Liberty Financial got off to a sluggish start, with investors buying far fewer of its WLFI tokens than the project hoped for.
But now, Chinese-born crypto billionaire Justin Sun has just given it a significant boost, buying $30 million worth of WLFI.
World Liberty is a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform backed by the incoming U.S. president and all three of his sons. The project is run by a circle of Trump world insiders, crypto entrepreneurs and financial figures.
Sun, meanwhile, is best known for establishing TRON, a blockchain platform mostly popular in Asia. He is also affiliated with HTX, a popular crypto exchange formerly known as Huobi.
On Nov. 25, $30 million of WLFI tokens were purchased by a wallet tagged to Huobi by Etherscan, the Ethereum blockchain data service.
World Liberty Financial was launched in September 2024, aiming to provide decentralized borrowing and lending services, with governance managed through the native WLFI token. Sales of the WLFI token went live in September, but only non-U.S. investors and accredited U.S. investors were allowed to participate.
The purchase restrictions — combined with the fact that WLFI tokens are non-transferable — appeared to make the token a tough sell for most crypto investors. Although the project set a target of selling $300 million worth of tokens, it had only sold $21 million worth before Sun’s purchase on Monday.
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唐纳德·特朗普 (Donald Trump) 支持的加密货币平台 World Liberty Financial 起步缓慢，投资者购买的 WLFI 代币数量远低于该项目的预期。
但现在，中国出生的加密货币亿万富翁孙宇晨 (Justin Sun) 给予了它重大的推动，购买了价值 3000 万美元的 WLFI。
World Liberty 是一个去中心化金融 (DeFi) 平台，由即将上任的美国总统及其三个儿子支持。该项目由一群特朗普圈内人士、加密货币企业家和金融界人士运营。
孙宇晨最出名的是创立了 TRON，这是一个在亚洲最流行的区块链平台。他还与 HTX 有联系，HTX 是一家流行的加密货币交易所，原名为 Huobi。
11 月 25 日，以太坊区块链数据服务 Etherscan 标记了火币的钱包购买了价值 3000 万美元的 WLFI 代币。
World Liberty Financial 于 2024 年 9 月推出，旨在提供去中心化的借贷服务，并通过原生 WLFI 代币进行治理。WLFI 代币于 9 月开始销售，但只有非美国投资者和经认可的美国投资者才被允许参与。
购买限制——加上 WLFI 代币不可转让的事实——似乎让大多数加密货币投资者难以接受该代币。尽管该项目设定了出售价值 3 亿美元的代币的目标，但在孙宇晨周一购买之前，它只售出了价值 2100 万美元的代币。
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How Justin Sun Is Trying to Hitch Tron’s Wagon to Trump
The controversial crypto founder has labeled his efforts as geared towards driving innovation in the U.S.
Tron founder Justin Sun wants to establish Trump ties through World Liberty Financial.
The controversial crypto founder has labeled his efforts as geared towards driving innovation in the U.S.
World Liberty Financial has struggled to take off amid cash grab allegations.
If there is anything Tron founder Justin Sun knows, it is how to jump on a trend.
With the recent driver for the crypto market being the anticipated pro-crypto policy stance of a Donald Trump-led administration, the controversial Tron founder is looking to take advantage.
MAGA-TRON
Tron founder Justin Sun is looking to establish Trump ties. On Monday, November 25, the controversial Sun announced that Tron DAO had invested $30 million in U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s equally controversial DeFi project World Liberty Financial.
With the move, Tron DAO has become the largest investor in the project by far, acquiring 2 billion of the project’s WLFI tokens. For context, the second largest investor invested just about $2.9 million for over 190 million WLFI tokens, per Dune Analytics data.
According to Sun, the WLFI token purchase, which represents nearly 60% of the project’s current token sales, is geared toward fostering innovation in the U.S.
“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 Donald Trump! TRON is committed to making America great again and leading innovation. Let’s go!” the Tron founder enthused in a statement on X.
The Donald Trump-backed project has meanwhile taken the recent development in stride.
“We’re honored to have the support of Justin Sun and Tron DAO! Together, we’re driving innovation, aligning on a vision for a stronger blockchain future, and contributing to the growing ecosystem. Exciting times ahead!” World Liberty Financial’s official X account posted.
The response comes as the Tron DAO investment significantly boosts the otherwise struggling project.
Dead on Arrival
The Trump family promoted World Liberty Financial as a financial disruptor that will challenge the traditional banking system and empower its users. While this rhetoric is nothing new in crypto, the Trump name was enough to drive significant interest in the project, especially after plans for a WLFI token were announced.
This excitement, however, quickly dissipated as interested users learned more about the project. For one, the project noted tokens were to indefinitely remain locked and non-transferable until they could be unlocked “through protocol governance procedures in a fashion that does not contrive applicable law.”
At the same time, the project also gave DT Marks DEFI LLC, an entity with ties to the Trump family, the right to 75% of the protocol’s net revenue for at least five years in addition to 22.5% of the project’s token supply, leading to cash grab allegations.
The sentiment shift around the project has been visible in its failure to meet its token sales target. At a fixed price of $0.015 per token, it initially planned to raise $300 million at a $1.5 billion valuation. However, after over a month, the token has raised only about $50 million, including Justin Sun’s recent contribution.
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孙宇晨如何试图将 Tron 的马车搭到特朗普的车上
如果Tron创始人孙宇晨 (Justin Sun)知道些什么的话，那就是如何顺应潮流。
由于唐纳德·特朗普 (Donald Trump)领导的政府预期将采取亲加密政策立场，成为加密市场近期的推动力，备受争议的 Tron 创始人正寻求利用这一优势。
Tron 创始人孙宇晨 (Justin Sun) 正在寻求与特朗普建立联系。11 月 25 日星期一，备受争议的孙宇晨宣布，Tron DAO 已向美国当选总统唐纳德·特朗普 (Donald Trump) 同样备受争议的DeFi项目World Liberty Financial投资了 3000 万美元。
通过此举，Tron DAO 已成为该项目迄今为止最大的投资者，收购了该项目的 20 亿枚 WLFI 代币。根据Dune Analytics 的数据，第二大投资者仅投资了约 290 万美元，购买了超过 1.9 亿枚 WLFI 代币。
Tron DAO 的投资极大地促进了这个原本陷入困境的项目。
到货即死亡
特朗普家族将World Liberty Financial宣传为一个金融颠覆者，它将挑战传统银行体系并赋予其用户权力。虽然这种言论在加密货币领域并不新鲜，但特朗普的名字足以引起人们对该项目的极大兴趣，尤其是在 WLFI 代币计划公布之后。
然而，随着感兴趣的用户对该项目有了更多的了解，这种兴奋感很快就消失了。首先，该项目指出，代币将无限期保持锁定状态且不可转让，直到它们可以“通过协议治理程序以不违反适用法律的方式”解锁。
与此同时，该项目还赋予与特朗普家族有联系的实体 DT Marks DEFI LLC 至少五年内该协议 75% 净收入的权利，此外还有 22.5% 的项目代币供应量，从而引发了圈钱的指控。
该项目未能实现代币销售目标，这显然表明了市场情绪的转变。该项目最初计划以每枚代币 0.015 美元的固定价格筹集 3 亿美元，估值达到 15 亿美元。然而，一个多月后，该代币仅筹集了约 5000 万美元，其中包括孙宇晨最近的贡献。
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Trump Company Nets $15 Million Payday as Justin Sun Buys Bulk of World Liberty Tokens
Justin Sun, the crypto billionaire behind Tron, now owns over half of all WLFI tokens sold since World Liberty Financial launched.
After months of lackluster sales, the Trump family’s decentralized finance (DeFi) project World Liberty Financial received an infusion of support on Monday from none other than Justin Sun, the founder of the Tron blockchain.
Sun confirmed the purchase of $30 million worth of World Liberty’s governance token, WLFI, to his followers on X (formerly known as Twitter). The project had previously sold slightly more than $20 million worth of the tokens, meaning that Sun now controls a healthy majority of the Ethereum-based WLFI tokens currently in circulation.
When World Liberty initially launched in late September, it sought $300 million in WLFI sales. Once the project opened to sluggish demand, however, it slashed that goal by 90%, to just $30 million in token sales.
Even that modified goalpost, however, proved elusive. Only today, with Sun’s massive token purchase, did the project finally eclipse $30 million in sales, effectively bringing its initial token offering to a close. The project said in an October filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it would terminate sales after eclipsing said milestone.
It’s also a key milestone for the project’s founders, who now will finally see a payout from their involvement with World Liberty. According to the project’s gold paper, only after $30 million has been raised to establish a reserve for expenses and obligations, will key participants including President-elect Donald Trump see a payday.
That threshold has finally been reached today, thanks to Sun. Per the same gold paper, a Delaware-incorporated LLC associated with Trump will now earn 75% of net protocol revenues, including token sales, earned in excess of the initial $30 million raised.
That means that from Sun’s token purchase alone, the Trump-affiliated entity should rake in $15 million.
While World Liberty has said that project team members like Trump have indicated an intent to deploy earned fees back onto the World Liberty platform once it launches, it is not clear what, if anything, would commit them to doing so.
Decrypt reached out to the World Liberty team with questions about today’s token sale and its implications for the project but did not immediately receive a response.
Sun, for this part, appeared eager to connect his token purchase directly to Trump as an individual, weeks before the president-elect is set to retake the White House.
“The U.S. is becoming the blockchain hub,” Sun wrote today. “And Bitcoin owes it to Donald Trump!”
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孙宇晨购买大量WLFI代币，特朗普公司净赚 1500 万美元
Tron 背后的加密货币亿万富翁孙宇晨 (Justin Sun) 拥有自 World Liberty Financial 推出以来售出的所有 WLFI 代币的一半以上。
在经历了数月的销售低迷之后，特朗普家族的去中心化金融(DeFi) 项目World Liberty Financial于周一获得了Tron区块链创始人孙宇晨的支持。
孙宇晨向其在 X（前身为 Twitter）上的粉丝确认购买了价值 3000 万美元的 World Liberty 治理代币 WLFI。该项目之前曾出售过价值略高于 2000 万美元的代币，这意味着孙宇晨现在控制着目前流通的基于以太坊的 WLFI 代币的绝大部分。
World Liberty 于 9 月底首次推出时，其目标是实现 3 亿美元的 WLFI 销售额。然而，该项目一经推出，需求就变得疲软，其目标就被削减了 90%，代币销售额仅为 3000 万美元。
然而，即便是这一修改后的目标也难以实现。直到今天，随着 Sun 大规模购买代币，该项目的销售额才最终突破 3000 万美元，实际上结束了其首次代币发行。该项目在 10 月份向美国证券交易委员会 (SEC) 提交的文件中表示，在突破这一里程碑后，它将终止销售。
这也是该项目创始人的一个重要里程碑，他们现在终于可以从参与World Liberty计划中得到回报。根据该项目的黄金文件，只有筹集到 3000 万美元建立费用和债务储备金后，包括当选总统唐纳德·特朗普在内的主要参与者才能看到回报。
今天，这一门槛终于达到了，这要感谢孙。根据同一份黄金文件，与特朗普有关的特拉华州注册有限责任公司现在将获得超过最初筹集的 3000 万美元的净协议收入（包括代币销售）的 75%。
这意味着，仅从孙宇晨的代币购买量来看，特朗普附属实体就应该赚取 1500 万美元。
2024.11.21 Justin Sun paid $6M for a banana taped to a wall and now plans to eat it
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TRON’s Justin Sun Drops $6M on a Literal Banana
TRON’s Justin Sun drops $6.2M on a banana taped to a wall, proving crypto kings have a wild sense of artistic humor.
Justin Sun becomes the “proud owner” of a banana.
The crypto community is in disbelief.
TRON’s Justin Sun has built a reputation for audacious stunts, such as spending $4.6 million on a charity lunch with Warren Buffett in 2020. At least that one came with a side of philanthropy and a chance to pitch crypto to the legendary investor.
Sun is making headlines again, this time for spending a jaw-dropping $6.2 million on a banana duct-taped to a wall. While some view it as a bold nod to art and meme culture, others question whether it’s sheer absurdity.
TRON Founder in Race Against the Clock
In a move that’s as bold as it is baffling, TRON’s founder has dropped a staggering $6.2 million on “Comedian,” a work by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan that’s a banana taped to a wall.
While the art world loves to debate what qualifies as art, Sun isn’t backing down. He’s fully committed to his purchase, calling the banana a “cultural phenomenon” that connects the worlds of art, memes, and crypto. For him, it’s not just art; it’s a moment in history.
Sun’s confidence doesn’t end with justifying the price tag. He proudly declared that owning this piece is an honor, framing it as a legacy move. According to him, this banana will inspire and spark discussion for years.
In a true dedication to the art world, Sun plans to eat the banana himself. We just hope he can get to New York before it turns into a mushy, brown mess—though given the live auction footage, it seems like he’s racing against time.
Bananas Are Suddenly All The Rage
The response to Sun’s latest stunt has been a mixed bag. Skeptics have pointed out the absurdity of shelling out millions for a single banana, with some even linking pricey art purchases to money laundering.
Conversely, some view Sun’s bold purchase as a symbolic gesture of the red-hot crypto market. For them, it’s about embracing soaring crypto prices and celebrating the playful side of life.
Even supporters of BAN, the original banana memecoin, joined in on the fun. Raoul Pal, founder of Global Macro Investor, congratulated Sun with a cheeky message: “Well played ser. Welcome to the Banana Zone!”
The BAN coin surged to an all-time high of 0.5208 SOL on November 18, following news of its CoinW exchange listing. However, it has since nosedived, dropping 66% after Sun’s purchase of the Comedian.
Meanwhile, new TRON-based banana-themed tokens are popping up, with TRON Banana leading the pack at a modest market cap of $34k at the time of writing.
On the Flipside
Maurizio Cattelan‘s Comedian was first unveiled in 2019 in Miami, making Sun‘s purchase a “reproduction.”
Sun paid in an unnamed cryptocurrency.
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TRON 的孙宇晨 (Justin Sun)以大胆的举动而闻名，例如在 2020 年花费 460 万美元与沃伦·巴菲特 (Warren Buffett) 共进慈善午餐，至少那次午餐带有慈善性质，并且有机会向这位传奇投资者推销加密货币。
孙宇晨再次登上头条新闻，这次他以惊人的 620 万美元将一根香蕉用胶带粘在墙上。虽然有些人认为这是对艺术和模因文化的大胆认可，但其他人则质疑这是否完全荒谬。
TRON 的创始人做出了一个大胆而又令人困惑的举动，斥资620 万美元购买了意大利艺术家 Maurizio Cattelan 的作品“喜剧演员”，即一根用胶带贴在墙上的香蕉。
尽管艺术界喜欢争论什么才算是艺术，但孙宇晨并没有退缩，他完全致力于购买，称这根香蕉是一种连接艺术、表情包和加密货币世界的“文化现象”。对他来说，这不仅仅是艺术，更是历史时刻。
孙宇晨对艺术界真挚的奉献精神，让他打算亲自吃掉这根香蕉。我们只希望他能在香蕉变成一团糊状棕色烂泥之前赶到纽约
香蕉突然风靡一时
孙宇晨的最新举动引发了褒贬不一的反应。怀疑论者指出，花数百万美元购买一根香蕉是荒谬的，甚至有人将购买昂贵的艺术品与洗钱联系起来。
相反，一些人认为孙宇晨的大胆购买是火爆的加密货币市场的象征性姿态。对他们来说，这是拥抱飙升的加密货币价格并庆祝生活中有趣的一面。
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