The Meme market is not lonely on the weekends either. In the past two days, the topic that the on-chain players who have been deeply involved have been highly concerned about may not be various AI Memes, but an art piece that Sotheby's has re-auctioned - the Duct Tape Banana.
Last Friday night, a Meme $Ban based on Sotheby's auction of the banana art piece broke out from among the various AI themes, and its market value reached nearly $20 million within 24 hours of going online.
Is this a momentary inspiration of the conspiracy group or a new speculative target chosen by the market? We have compiled some information to help you quickly understand the price manipulation journey of this magical big banana.
Abstract-level Art Pieces Reappear
In 2019, the duct tape + banana series of works created by Italian artist Cattelan was auctioned at Sotheby's, and at that time the banana named "Comedian" was sold for $120,000, which had already caused a heated discussion on social media.
At first, this kind of abstract artistic behavior undoubtedly provoked social mockery, with comments like "Fools and their money are soon parted" and "Bless you" being the main tone. Later, everyone was happy to use this banana as a trendy art meme to play with, after all, replicating this artwork does not require any cost, a roll of duct tape + a banana can replicate the $120,000 worth of happiness, even the on-chain meme leader Musk was playing with this banana meme at the time:
Recently, Sotheby's has announced the re-auction of one of the 3 "versions" of this work, and the estimated auction price this time is between $1 million and $1.5 million (it seems that the art market has also experienced inflation).
The Auction is Abstract, and the Meme Follows
Is the Sotheby's Vice President Manipulating the Market?
So how did this banana spread to the Meme market? According to the editor's initial impression, around 11 o'clock on Friday night, on-chain hunters pointed out that one of the top holders of the Solana-based banana concept coin $Ban on GMGN.AI was Michael Bouhanna, the Vice President of Sotheby's, with a holding ratio of 3.78% of the total.
Earlier that day, this Vice President also personally tweeted to promote this banana, saying "For me, this is the most important work of the 21st century." Combined with the fact that he had previously released his own wallet address, it seems to further validate the rationality of the "Sotheby's Vice President Personally Manipulating the Meme" route.
At that time, the market value of $Ban was around $100,000, and as soon as the news came out, $Ban immediately soared, with the market value reaching around $7 million within an hour, a nearly 70-fold increase at its peak.
The Vice President's Crazy Operations, the Coin Price Starts Roller Coaster
The 70-fold surge of the crazy banana let the on-chain players laugh and cheer, but later this Vice President's series of crazy operations caused the coin price to go up and down, and many early players who got on the bus also had little left in their hands.
Deleting Tweets at the Price Peak Caused a Stampede to Flee
In order to further prove the reliability of the story, a Twitter user asked Michael Bouhanna whether the relevant address was really his. Perhaps feeling a little guilty or not wanting to cause unnecessary impact, Michael Bouhanna deleted the tweet where he had revealed his wallet address during the most heated stage of the hype.
$Ban immediately began to plummet, with its market value falling from $7 million to around $400,000. When it was rising, not many people knew about it, but when it started falling, the screen was full of $Ban banana jokes.
Attending the Binance Conference, Changing the Official Twitter Avatar, and the Coin Price Went Up Again?
After a series of twists and turns, the market's enthusiasm for the hype of the big banana also gradually cooled down. The price performance was flat for the rest of the night, but it didn't go straight to zero either.
By the next day, the price had risen back to the previous high, but without any positive news to stimulate it, it gradually fell back again. Until around 8 o'clock in the evening, Vice President Michael Bouhanna announced on Twitter that he would attend the Binance conference in his capacity as a Sotheby's executive. People also found that Sotheby's official account had changed its avatar to an image with duct tape banana elements.
This series of actions stimulated the market, and on Saturday night, the price of $Ban rose from the dead. Perhaps the manipulators had sucked up enough positions through this up and down, or the market's confidence in the duct tape banana had been further refined, this time the price of $Ban continued to rise, constantly breaking through the previous highs.
As of the time of writing, the highest market value of $Ban has reached $25 million.
The Divine Plate Has Appeared, a Grand View of the Banana Concept
Whether it's the market's hype or the manipulators' careful control, the $25 million market value represents that the banana concept has been initially recognized by the market. In addition to the leader, there will be no shortage of imitations, so what angles are the banana concepts being played from currently? TechFlow has made a small review based on market value.
Note: Meme token prices fluctuate violently and are highly risky, investors should fully assess the risks and participate cautiously. This article is only based on market hot spots to carry out information sharing, the author and the platform do not make any guarantee for the completeness and accuracy of the content of the article, and this article does not contain any investment advice.
Comedian ($Ban) - The Protagonist of the Article, the Concept Leader
Contract Address: 9PR7nCP9DpcUotnDPVLUBUZKu5WAYkwrCUx9wDnSpump
24H Trading Volume: $33 million
Current Market Cap: $21.6 million
Highest Market Cap: $25 million
The protagonist of the concept is the banana Comedian, with the token name $Ban.
Comedian ($Pan) - "Duct Tape + Pepe" Concept, Mainly Stitching Together
Contract Address: 9JLsnxCqZju5ymLhMkTW6acnUxgrARqz5NAR7Acdpump
24H Trading Volume: $2.5 million
Current Market Cap: $400,000
Highest Market Cap: $880,000
As soon as a target was on fire, the stitched-together monster, although late, also directly pumped when $Ban was rising, the angle is quite strange, and the price performance looks a bit like the conspiracy group.
As of the time of writing, the price has experienced a significant decline.
ANANAB ($ANANAB) - Role Reversal, Wrapped in Duct Tape
Contract Address: HaqNyHMwCP1YGCYgjY7kJNVd6gv4mz1Y75A4xKVUpump
24H Trading Volume: $880,000
Current Market Cap: $110,000
Highest Market Cap: $200,000
Contrary to the concept of the banana on the wall, the person wrapped in tape on the wall in the picture is the observer, and the banana is the observed. The picture should be from the time when the banana was first hyped up 19 years ago, used to satirize the people who were hyping up the banana.
Banana D（$Comedian）-Banana "Real Name" Concept
Contract Address:BpqXJMguKsS8azKaVy4tZ4Ysm2e2f2zygZKHx8VKGKBA
24H Trading Volume:$1 million
Current Market Cap:$90,000
Highest Market Cap:$250,000
Contrary to $Ban, this token uses the real name Comedian as its token symbol, the angle seems correct, but the price performance shows that players don't seem to buy it.
Sotheby'（$Sothebys）-Sotheby's Avatar Change Concept
Contract Address:83UCt6BueiwNE5NKtXyJ5SmRDWFWSzibLaxmV3xapump
24H Trading Volume:$380,000
Current Market Cap:$16,400
Highest Market Cap:$110,000
The concept is simple and easy to understand, the angle of riding the trend is a bit biased, and the price performance is also general. And GMGN.AI shows a 100% probability of rug pull, it is speculated to be a Dev's riding the hot spot flow plate, only for observation, not recommended to participate.
Summary
After a day of pumping, dumping and pumping again, the market cap of $Ban has already far exceeded the estimated value of the artwork itself, this "banana fever" has already had a certain trend, and various angles have also followed up in time. As for whether the subsequent heat will spread to Sotheby's/art concepts or the banana itself or the president himself, we will observe.
But the violent dump of $Ban in the early stage also shows that facing an increasingly "smart" market, stepping on the on-chain meme, holding the large MC memecoin, and successfully profiting and selling the large MC memecoin are already completely independent events. Each step of the game and execution requires huge effort, and the addresses with high profits are often because "the increase is high enough" rather than "the position is heavy enough". Still the same old saying, control your position and emotions, don't get carried away by Fomo, the opportunities that belong to you are always there.
