A conceptual artwork by Maurizio Cattelan, “Comedian,” is just a fruit-stand banana taped on the wall. But 7 bidders were biting. It went to a crypto entrepreneur.

A cryptocurrency entrepreneur who identified himself as the buyer of a viral artwork depicting a yellow banana duct-taped to a wall said he will eat the fruit as part of a “unique artistic experience.

Maurizio Cattelan’s perishable piece soared above the pre-auction estimate of $1.5 million and was the subject of an intense bidding battle at a Sotheby's auction on Wednesday

A banana duct-taped to a white wall — or an acclaimed piece of art, depending on how you look at it — sold at a Sotheby’s auction for $US6.24 ($A9.57) million on Wednesday. Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian is comprised simply of a banana stuck to the wall with a strip of silver duct tape and is hung exactly 160cm from the floor.

A piece of art that is little more than a banana duct-taped to a wall sold at auction for $6.2 million on Wednesday to cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun, Sotheby's said, furthering the universal conversation about what constitutes art.

A piece of conceptual art consisting of a banana duct-taped to a wall sold for $6.2 million at an auction in New York on Wednesday.

Justin Sun, founder of the cryptocurrency platform TRON, bought a duct-taped banana artwork entitled “Comedian” for millions of dollars.

Comedian,” by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, was a phenomenon when it debuted in 2019 at Art Basel Miami Beach.

This year has seen some of the worst sales in decades for the art market, and the “Comedian” piece is unlikely to move the needle one way or the other.