The Meme market on the weekend is not lonely 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 re-auctioned by Sotheby's - the Duct Tape Banana.
On Friday night, a Meme $Ban with the Sotheby's auctioned banana art as the target 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 magic big banana.
Abstract-level artworks come out again
In 2019, the duct tape + banana series of works created by Italian artist Cattelan was also auctioned at Sotheby's, and at that time this banana named "The Comedian" was sold for $120,000, which caused a heated discussion on social media at the time.
At first, this abstract artistic behavior undoubtedly provoked social mockery, with comments like "the money is dumb" and "respect is a blessing" being the main tone. Later, it evolved into everyone being happy to use this banana as a trendy art meme, 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 token $Ban on GMGN.AI is Michael Bouhanna, the vice president of Sotheby's (@michaelbouhanna), and this holding accounts for 3.78% of the total.
And 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 route of "the Sotheby's vice president personally manipulating the MEME".
At that time, the market value of $Ban was around $100,000, and as soon as the news came out, $Ban immediately soared, reaching a high of around $7 million within an hour, a nearly 70-fold increase.
The vice president's tricky operations continue, and the coin price starts a roller coaster
The 70-fold surge of the crazy banana caused a lot of laughter on the chain, but afterwards, a series of tricky operations by this vice president caused the coin price to go up and down, and many early investors had little left in their hands.
Deleting tweets at the price peak caused a stampede to flee
A Twitter user tried to further prove the reliability of the story by asking Michael Bouhanna about the relevant address on Twitter. 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 active stage of the hype.
$Ban then began to plummet, with its market value dropping from $7 million to around $400,000. When it was rising, not many people knew about it, but when it started to fall, 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 drive it, it gradually fell back again. Until around 8 pm, 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 the official Sotheby's 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 have absorbed enough positions through this up and down, or the market's confidence in the duct tape banana has been further refined, this time the $Ban price has risen again, continuously breaking through the previous highs.
As of the time of writing, the highest market value of $Ban has reached $25 million.
The god-tier has appeared, a grand review of the banana concept
Whether it's the market's hype or the manipulators' careful control, the $25 million market value represents that the banana concept has been initially recognized by the market. In addition to the leader, there will also be no shortage of imitations, so what angles are the banana concepts being played from? TechFlow has made a small review based on market value.
Note: The prices of MEME tokens fluctuate violently and have a high degree of risk. Investors should fully assess the risks and participate cautiously. This article is only based on market hot spots to share information, and the author and platform do not guarantee the completeness and accuracy of the content, and this article does not contain any investment advice.
Comedian ($Ban) - the protagonist of this 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, focusing on a fusion
Contract Address: 9JLsnxCqZju5ymLhMkTW6acnUxgrARqz5NAR7Acdpump
24H Trading Volume: $2.5 million
Current Market Cap: $400,000
Highest Market Cap: $880,000
As soon as a target catches fire, the Frankenstein monster, though late, arrives. On Saturday evening, when $Ban was pumping, the plate that used the Pepe+tape concept to ride the heat also directly Pumped to the fullest, the angle is very strange, and the price performance looks a bit like the taste of the conspiracy group.
As of the editorial deadline, the price has seen a significant pullback.
ANANAB ($ANANAB) - Role swap, taped up
Contract Address:HaqNyHMwCP1YGCYgjY7kJNVd6gv4mz1Y75A4xKVUpump
24H Trading Volume:880,000 USD
Current Market Cap:110,000 USD
Highest Market Cap:200,000 USD
Contrary to the banana concept 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 of the first banana hype in 2019, used to satirize those who were hyping the banana.
Banana D ($Comedian) - Banana "real name" concept
Contract Address:BpqXJMguKsS8azKaVy4tZ4Ysm2e2f2zygZKHx8VKGKBA
24H Trading Volume:1,000,000 USD
Current Market Cap:90,000 USD
Highest Market Cap:250,000 USD
Exactly the opposite of $Ban, this token uses the banana's real name Comedian as the token symbol, the angle seems correct, but from the price performance, it seems that the players are not too willing to buy in.
Sotheby' ($Sothebys) - Sotheby's avatar swap concept
Contract Address:83UCt6BueiwNE5NKtXyJ5SmRDWFWSzibLaxmV3xapump
24H Trading Volume:380,000 USD
Current Market Cap:16,400 USD
Highest Market Cap:110,000 USD
The concept is simple and easy to understand, the angle 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 hot spot flow water plate, for observation only, not recommended to participate.
Summary
After a day of pumping, dumping and re-pumping, the market cap of $Ban has already far exceeded the estimated value of the artwork itself, this "banana fever" has already gained some momentum, and various angles have also followed up in a timely manner. As for whether the subsequent heat will spread to Sotheby's/art concepts, bananas themselves 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 by selling the large MC memecoin are now completely independent steps. Each step of the game and execution requires huge effort, and the high-profit addresses 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.
