A viral banana perpendicularly duct-taped to a wall, which stirred many conversations in the art world, was sold to a cryptocurrency executive for $6.2 million (nearly P350 million) at an auction house in New York.

According to a Reuters report via GMA News Online, NY-based auction hub Sotheby confirmed on Wednesday the successful bid of crypto businessman Justin Sun amounting to $5.2 million, plus a buyer’s premium or fee, “furthering the universal conversation about what constitutes art.”

It had a starting price tag of $800,000. 

The conceptual art is called “Comedian,” an installation piece made by Italian provocateur Maruzio Cattelan. 

The sensational art work consists of literally a single yellow banana attached to a wall with a strip of silver duct tape, and has had three versions– the first of which debuted and attracted massive crowds at Miami’s Art Basel in 2019 where it had to be taken down for “public safety and to protect other works on display.”

Winning bidder Sun, a Chinese-born collector and digital currency entrepreneur, placed his offer over the phone, and reportedly paid in crypto.

As per the Reuters report, Sun believes in the promise of his purchased Cattelan obra, stating that “this is not just an art work. It represents a cultural phenomenon that bridges the worlds of art, memes, and the cryptocurrency community” in a message to Sotheby’s.

Cattelan is an Italian visual artist known for his hyperrealistic sculptures and absurd installation pieces, including a “golden toilet and a sculpture of the pope struck down by a meteorite.”