Editing Comedian

**Comedian** (ticker **BAN**) is a [[Solana]] memecoin themed on Maurizio Cattelan's 2019 artwork *Comedian*, a banana duct-taped to a wall.[^1] The Block described it as the largest unaffiliated Comedian-themed memecoin; its market cap was near $241 million before Tron founder [[Justin Sun]] bought an edition of the work for $6.24 million at Sotheby's on 20 November 2024.[^1]

## Lore
The artwork is a banana fixed to a wall with grey duct tape, sold as a certificate of authenticity with display instructions, so the fruit and tape can be replaced.[^1] The copy sold in New York was number 2 in an edition of three, against an estimate of $1 million to $1.5 million; Sotheby's deputy chairman Jen Hua placed the winning bid for Sun.[^1]

BAN fell 37% once the bid was confirmed, from about $241 million to a low of $151 million, before recovering to about $175 million at $0.175.[^1] A second Comedian-themed token launched the day before the auction collapsed from a theoretical $23.5 billion market cap to $281.[^1] KuCoin listed BAN on 18 November 2024 and published its contract address, which carries the "pump" suffix of [[pump.fun]] tokens.[^2]

On 29 November 2024 Sun ate the banana during a press event at the Peninsula hotel in Hong Kong.[^3] BAN then stood at a $138 million market cap, while a rival token, BTW ("Banana Tape Wall"), was at $1.7 million.[^3]

## Timeline
- 2024-11-18: KuCoin listing (BAN/USDT)[^2]
- 2024-11-20: Sun wins the Sotheby's auction; BAN falls 37% from about $241 million[^1]
- 2024-11-29: Sun eats the banana in Hong Kong; BAN at $138 million[^3]

## See also
- [[Useless Coin]]
- [[Housecoin]]
- [[Chillhouse]]
- [[Butthole Coin]]
- [[Launch Coin]]
- [[Unipcs]]

## References
1. [Justin Sun enters the banana zone with $6.2 million purchase of 'Comedian' artwork](https://www.theblock.co/post/327576/justin-sun-banana-comedian-artwork), The Block, 2024-11-21
2. [Comedian (BAN) Gets Listed on KuCoin!](https://www.kucoin.com/announcement/pl-comedian-ban-gets-listed-on-kucoin), KuCoin, 2024-11-18
3. [Inflation? Justin Sun Eats Banana He Bought for $6.2 Million](https://decrypt.co/294036/inflation-justin-sun-eats-banana-he-bought-for-6-2-million), Decrypt, 2024-11-29
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