"I want to be the Elon Musk of the cryptocurrency world." At 34, Chinese businessman Justin Sun, the founder of cryptocurrency platform Tron, is part of the cryptogalaxy that has become infatuated with US President Donald Trump and pledges allegiance to him, hoping to accelerate his own fortune. Like his mentor, recently converted to bitcoin, the man lives in a world of fake money and influence peddling, which may appear virtual, but where real money flows freely too.

On November 21, 2024, at Sotheby's auction house in New York, Sun purchased the work "Comedian," by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan – a simple banana taped to a wall. Its price was $6.24 million (€5.8 million). "This is not just an artwork," said Justin Sun. "It represents a cultural phenomenon that bridges the worlds of art, memes and the cryptocurrency community." Above all, it's a demonstration that you can make a fortune from nothing – a banana and tape – just as you can in cryptocurrencies, digital tokens that are only worth as much as the trust placed in them by investors.

Sun decided to board the American president's train: On November 25, 2024, after his artistic coup, he announced that he had invested $30 million in cryptocurrencies promoted by the Trump family, an amount raised to $75 million in January. "The US is becoming the blockchain hub [a technology for storing and transmitting information], and bitcoin owes it to Donald Trump! Let's go!" said the man who has become an adviser to the family firm.

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