Sotheby’s Michael Bouhanna and Insider Trading

On December 4, 2024, Sotheby’s VP Michael Bouhanna announced a new memecoin on X. The token, named VOID (Nothing), embraced the artistic concepts of nihilism and emptiness.

While VOID sparked excitement, LookOnchain’s team accused Bouhanna of insider trading, linking him to a wallet that acquired 44% of VOID’s supply for $8,200 and flipped it for $1.08 million.

This controversy mirrors an earlier incident involving Bouhanna and the BAN (Comedian) memecoin, where he faced accusations of market manipulation.

Meet Michael Bouhanna  

Michael Bouhanna is Sotheby’s Vice President and head of its NFT division. In 2021, he led the auction house’s groundbreaking foray into digital art during the NFT boom.

In September of that year, Bouhanna facilitated the sale of 101 Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs for $24 million. Sotheby’s initially stated the buyer was a traditional art collector, with Bouhanna praising the deal as proof of BAYC’s credibility.

In 2023, however, Surfing the Waves reported that the winning bidder was actually FTX, a crypto exchange that later filed for bankruptcy. Sotheby’s has refuted these claims in legal filings.

On November 21, 2024, Sotheby’s sold Comedian by Maurizio Cattelan—a banana taped to a wall—for $6.2 million. The artwork was sold for $6.2 million to Justin Sun, the founder of Tron and a prominent figure in the crypto world.

However, controversy arose when Michael Bouhanna, Sotheby’s Vice President, launched the Comedian (BAN) memecoin on Solana ahead of the auction. This led to allegations of insider trading against him.

Claims of Insider Trading Surface  

On October 24, 2024, Sotheby’s revealed plans for a world tour featuring Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian, ending with a much-anticipated auction.

The very next day, Michael Bouhanna launched a memecoin called “Comedian.” Though he intended to remain anonymous, his identity was uncovered within hours when an X user linked him to the wallet that created the token.

The BAN memecoin leverages visuals of Comedian across its social media accounts. It’s promoted on pump.fun as: “The most significant meme in art history, Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian, to be auctioned at Sotheby’s on November 20 ????.”

Shortly after launching the Comedian memecoin, Bouhanna turned to X, promoting the auction as a showcase of “the most significant artwork of the 21st century.”

Days later, LookOnchain published accusations on X, claiming Bouhanna had turned to launching his own token, Comedian (BAN), after failed memecoin trades. They asserted he leveraged an insider wallet to amass over $1 million in profits.

The wallet reportedly acquired nearly 4% of the BAN token supply for 10.2 SOL (about $2,000). Shortly after Bouhanna’s auction promotion post, the wallet initiated token sales.

In the following two days, the wallet offloaded BAN worth roughly $150,000 in incremental transactions. However, it still held a large reserve of tokens.

After LookOnchain’s allegations gained traction, the wallet stopped all BAN-related activity. No further transactions have been recorded since November 19.

The wallet owner ended up transferring around $2.2 million in BAN tokens to a cluster of linked wallets.  

The most recent 10 transactions from the alleged Bouhanna wallet (highlighted in red for the final redistribution transfer). Source: solscan.io

Some of these wallets transferred significant token amounts to centralized exchanges, typically a signal of planned token sales or fiat currency conversions.

Bouhanna Addresses the Controversy  

On October 28, Cryptonews reported Bouhanna’s claims that the allegations against him were “unfounded and defamatory.” Yet, just six days later, Bouhanna confirmed he was behind the creation of the BAN token. He clarified that it was a personal side project and had no ties to his Sotheby’s role.

Bouhanna stated the token was meant as an anonymous satire inspired by the debate over the value of Comedian. He also admitted to sharing the token’s pump.fun link with a few friends during its launch.

The LookOnchain report points to a shared funding trail between Bouhanna’s wallet and the insider wallet. Bouhanna disputes ownership, attributing the insider wallet to a friend. By doing so, he inadvertently acknowledges his role in facilitating trades reliant on insider information from his Sotheby’s tenure.

Such a scenario hints that Bouhanna leveraged confidential data to benefit a circle of friends, aiming to bolster his reputation and deepen relationships within Sotheby’s network.

Whether Bouhanna used other wallets for trading remains unknown. Notably, LookOnchain omitted several wallets associated with the BAN creator’s address. One such cluster acquired around 14% of BAN tokens shortly after launch, profiting by over $1 million.

Bouhanna has yet to address any connection to these wallets, but speculation within the community leans toward Harold Eytan, a client of Sotheby’s, as their owner.

Harold Eytan: Background and Connections  

Harold Eytan serves as CEO of Particle, a platform for fractionalized art ownership, and is also behind the SocialFi protocol Reach, designed to reward user activity. Eytan is rumored to be a Sotheby’s client and has known connections with Bouhanna.

Roughly 40 minutes after the launch of BAN (and prior to Bouhanna’s promotional Sotheby’s post), a wallet believed to be linked to Eytan acquired $1,200 worth of tokens. Shortly after Bouhanna’s X post, this wallet began offloading its BAN holdings.

Transaction specifics from the alleged Eytan wallet. Source: solscan.io

Eytan joined the conversation under Bouhanna’s Comedian post, questioning whether the original artwork or its memecoin had greater value.

An X user countered, “It won’t take off unless you unload your 9%. People aren’t fools.” Eytan’s response was a laughing emoji, and the wallet assumed to be his continued selling BAN for several days afterward.

After the controversy erupted, Eytan launched a memecoin named “$othebys,” parodying Sotheby’s branding. The $othebys X account vocally supported BAN and defended Bouhanna, coming into the spotlight post-LookOnchain allegations.

Its profile description read: “Сaring about art, but mostly about money. Est.1744. The auction house for comedians.”

Trading on Raydium saw Eytan’s token skyrocket to a market cap exceeding $1 million, only to face a steep drop shortly after. The X account connected to the token has been dormant since November 3.

Bouhanna’s X post, “Free the art,” made two hours after the token’s launch, ignited speculation. Some argued it supported Eytan’s venture, while others saw it as a move to reinforce BAN.

Insider Trading and BAN: Are More Players Involved?  

Although no professional team has been linked to BAN’s creation, the artificially amplified social media activity raises questions about the involvement of other parties potentially connected to insider trading.

In the initial days after BAN’s launch, the X account experienced high engagement, largely fueled by Chinese bots, while the Telegram channel was similarly inundated. These actions often point to coordinated strategies aimed at faking popularity to drive interest and trading volumes. 

Check out: “Bots in Crypto: Their Roles, Impacts, and Detection Methods”

The discovery of an organized team behind BAN would directly challenge Bouhanna’s statement that the project was “spontaneous,” as such coordination demands significant preparation.

Did Bouhanna Play a Role in Promoting BAN?  

Although Michael Bouhanna denies promoting BAN, conflicting reports have arisen. An X user claimed that he liked a post encouraging users to buy the token, raising further questions about his involvement.

There’s always the possibility the screenshot was forged. But if verified, it would clearly implicate Bouhanna in promoting the token.

Another X user, Lana Young, alleged on November 20 that Bouhanna liked her video hyping BAN.

“Do you know which memecoin is about to take off?” Young posed in her November 18 post. “Here’s a hint: it features a banana, a billionaire, and Sotheby’s.” She followed up with a video sharing a screenshot, allegedly confirming Bouhanna’s account had liked the post.

Why Bouhanna Confessed to Being Behind BAN  

Bouhanna likely didn’t anticipate that launching BAN would expose his identity, believing his wallet would remain untraceable. However, he had earlier posted his wallet address on Twitter during a crypto-related contest. That address was later identified as the one used to deploy BAN.

While Bouhanna removed the post, several users managed to save screenshots, providing undeniable evidence of his ownership. Without these records, Bouhanna might have avoided admitting his involvement with BAN.