Tron Founder Beaten to Winning Beeple Bid by Mystery Buyer

Justin Sun almost won the Christie’s auction of a non-fungible token (NFT) that sold for $69.3 million but was outbid in the final moments, a spokesman for the Tron founder said.

Bloomberg reported Thursday afternoon that Sun was the winning bidder in the auction of an NFT tied to a digital work by the artist known as Beeple.

But Tron’s Roy Liu told CoinDesk that Sun did not win the auction, despite bidding $60 million as the clock wound down. “He was outbid by another buyer [at the] last minute,” Liu said via Telegram message.

(A buyer’s premium accounts for the difference between the winning bid of $60.25 million and the $69.3 million sale price.)

“NFT is definitely a revolution to the art industry for our generation,” the Tron spokesman said. “Both Justin and Tron Foundation are super excited for the technology and will heavily support the ecosystem around that.”

Christie’s auction specialist Noah Davis declined to comment when reached by phone.