What’s worth millions, taped to a wall, and destined to rot? Hint: It’s art you can’t hang for long.

Maurizio Cattelan’s infamous duct-taped banana art piece, Comedian, fetched an eye-popping $6.24 million, including fees, at Sotheby’s contemporary art auction in New York on Wednesday night.

The sale saw six bidders battle it out before Jen Hua, deputy chairman of Sotheby’s and chairman of Sotheby’s China, placed the winning bid on Tron founder Justin Sun’s behalf. 

The artwork shattered its $1.5 million pre-sale estimate and became its place as one of the most expensive—and controversial—art pieces (or should we say fruit) ever.

Sotheby’s accepted crypto payments for this sale as the market is seeing new heights following Donald Trump’s re-election, with Bitcoin (BTC) soaring to $97,000 on Wednesday.

The crypto entrepreneur, Sun, claimed the artwork in a heated five-minute bidding war that involved six other participants. 

“This is not just an artwork; it represents a cultural phenomenon that bridges the worlds of art, memes, and the cryptocurrency community,” Sun wrote on X, sharing his “banana” experience. 

He announced plans to eat the banana in the coming days as part of what he described as “honoring its place in both art history and popular culture.”

The artwork comprises a real banana affixed to a wall with duct tape, accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and instructions for replacing the fruit as it inevitably decays. 

During the heated auction, Sotheby’s auctioneer Oliver Barker quipped, “These are the words I never thought I’d say, ‘$5 million for a banana.’”

The banana’s rise to infamy in the art scene began in 2019 when one sold for $120,000 at Art Basel. The work became a viral sensation after performance artist David Datuna ate the banana, dubbing his act “Hungry Artist.”

Since then, Comedian has sparked conversations about the absurdity and subjectivity of art valuation.

Justin Sun founded the blockchain platform Tron in 2017. In December 2021, he stepped down as CEO of the Tron Foundation, claiming he had transferred control of the project to Tron DAO, a non-profit decentralized autonomous organization.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair

The golden arches are getting a pastel makeover for the holiday season.

Fast food giant McDonald’s and Web3-native brand Doodles revealed a collaboration Thursday, featuring custom cups that showcase the Ethereum NFT collection’s colorful, hand drawn style. On top of that, customers can unlock digital collectibles and content, as well as access co-branded physical merchandise.

Dubbed the “GM Spread Joy” campaign, the marketing initiative is being billed as an immersive experience that pays homage to the Crypto Twitter mantra. Available to customers in the U.S., the promotion can be accessed at participating stores among McDonald’s 13,500 restaurants.

The limited-edition cups, emblazoned with pinks and blues amid holiday-themed tableaus, allow customers to access a “pack ripping” experience, McDonald’s said in a press release.

Dovetailing with Doodles’ digital avatars, they contain accessories and apparel for Doodles characters, among other goodies, like access to music videos and Doodles’ animated series. In addition to the original Ethereum NFT collection, Doodles has launched an avatar creation “Stoodio” app on Ethereum layer-2 network Base, where the digital items can be used.

Outside the U.S., where NFT projects haven’t faced intense regulatory scrutiny, the burger chain has used NFTs to promote its purple icon Grimace and launched a metaverse game called My Happy Place. What’s more, McDonald’s tapped The Sandbox, an Ethereum-based metaverse game, to pay tribute to its chicken nuggets.

McDonald’s collaboration with Doodles may represent its biggest step into the NFT space since its American division unveiled McRib-inspired NFTs in 2021. Effectively, McDonald’s was an early adopter of using digital assets as a way to reward customers and cultivate brand loyalty.

Earlier this year, Doodles teamed up with the sportswear powerhouse Adidas, introducing virtual swag packs that let buyers claim exclusive physical apparel. As Doodles’ Chief Brand Officer, some collectibles paid homage to a song created with musician Pharrell Williams.

As part of its holiday promotion, McDonald’s customers can access a track produced by Williams called “Good Mornin,” sung by artist Marley Bleu. Williams, who once worked at McDonald’s, was inspired by internet culture and “viral ‘GM’ memes,” McDonald’s said.

Comprising 10,000 generative profile pictures (PFPs), Doodles features art by Scott “Burnt Toast” Martin. The collection is currently valued at 20,296 ETH ($64 million), according to CoinGecko, with the cheapest NFT from the collection listed for 2 ETH ($6,300) on secondary markets.

Known as the collection’s floor price, the figure climbed as high as 2.7 ETH ($8,500) earlier this week after McDonald’s teased the collaboration on Twitter (aka X).

Edited by Andrew Hayward

With Bitcoin surpassing all-time highs by the hour, even noted Bitcoin skeptic Peter Schiff is trying to get in on the action by selling his Ordinals collection.

On Sunday, the financial commentator and radio host said on X (formerly Twitter) that the Peter Schiff Ordinals collection, also known as the Golden Triumph Ordinals Set, would go up for sale on Magic Eden.

Bitcoin surged past $80,000 Sunday in the crypto-optimistic wake of Donald Trump’s election victory last week. It has since passed the $87,000 mark.

Launched in 2023, the “Golden Triumph Ordinals Set” is a collection of 51 Ordinal inscriptions on the Bitcoin Blockchain. Similar to a non-fungible token (NFT), a Bitcoin Ordinal is a digital collectible on the Bitcoin blockchain. Each Ordinal is inscribed on an individual satoshi, the smallest denomination of a Bitcoin. Ordinals have included text, images, video clips, and even video games on the Bitcoin network.

The current floor price for one of the Schiff NFTs is 0.1245 BTC, around $10,774 for each collectible, according to Magic Eden data. Despite having a low trading volume, the Schiff NFTs rose 149% last year with an original price of 0.05 BTC, around $1,885.

“There’s 21 million Bitcoin but only 50 Golden Triumph ordinals. It’s clear which one is more valuable,” Schiff tweeted. “You can’t argue with math.”

It’s unclear if Schiff is attempting to profit from Bitcoin mania. The gold bug did not immediately return a request for comment.

Crypto Twitter reacted to Schiff’s tweet with a mix of surprise and skepticism.

Despite Schiff announcing the sale of the Ordinals collection, he claimed not to own a Bitcoin wallet himself or ownership of the collection.

“The ordinals belong to the people who bought them in the original auction,” he said.

When asked why someone would part with the increasingly valuable Bitcoin for one of his NFTs, Schiff said it was because of scarcity.

“Why is Bitcoin more valuable,” Schiff said. “The Golden Triumph originals are way more scarce than Bitcoin.”

Schiff has consistently argued that gold is a better investment than Bitcoin, comparing it to Tulip mania.

On Monday, he decried Trump’s vow to establish a Bitcoin Reserve, prognosticating that such a move would cause a massive market meltdown.

“To maintain the pretense that its Bitcoin reserve has actual value, the U.S. government would be forced to keep buying, destroying the value of the dollar in the process.” he tweeted.

In any case, it appears as though Schiff wants a piece of the action after more than a decade of denial. Welcome aboard.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair and Josh Quittner