Flying Tulip Raises $200 Million to Build Integrated DeFi Exchange
Flying Tulip, a new crypto project led by DeFi pioneer Andre Cronje, has secured $200 million in a private seed round. The funding aims to support the creation of a comprehensive onchain exchange that incorporates spot trading, derivatives, lending, stablecoins, and insurance into one unified platform.
Major Backers and Funding Structure
The seed round, structured as a simple agreement for future tokens (SAFT), sets Flying Tulips token valuation at $1 billion fully diluted. The raise began August 14 and closed within a month, attracting notable investors such as Brevan Howard Digital, CoinFund, DWF Labs, FalconX, and others. No single investor led the round.
Flying Tulip plans to conduct a public token sale to raise an additional $800 million at the same $1 billion valuation. According to Cronje, the public sale will take place on Flying Tulip's own platform rather than existing initial coin offering venues.
Innovative Investor Protections
A distinctive element of Flying Tulip's financing is the "onchain redemption right," also described as a perpetual put option. Investors in both rounds can burn FT tokens at any time to redeem up to their original investment in the contributed asset, such as ETH. This mechanism offers downside protection while maintaining potential upside tied to the token. Cronje noted that these funds cannot be used directly by the team; instead, capital will be deployed in onchain strategies via established protocols like Aave, Ethena, and Spark to target a ~4% annual yield.
The protocol aims to use generated yield for growth, ecosystem incentives, and token buybacks, establishing what Cronje describes as a "self-reinforcing growth flywheel." If reserves run low, redemption requests will queue and process transparently as liquidity returns. Smart contracts with safety protocols will manage the process.
Team, Development, and Launch Timeline
The Flying Tulip team includes around 15 employees spread across the U.S., Europe, and Asia. No team members received an initial token allocation; compensation is tied to protocol performance by means of buybacks funded through revenue. FT tokens will remain non-transferable until the public sale concludes.
The exchange will initially launch on Sonic, taking advantage of lower costs and fee subsidies, before expanding to Ethereum, Avalanche, BNB Chain, Solana, and additional networks. Revenue streams will include trading and lending fees, liquidation proceeds, yields from the native ftUSD stablecoin, and insurance-related income.
Competitive Landscape and Project Vision
Cronje positions Flying Tulip as an all-in-one DeFi platform building on concepts he first introduced in 2020. Competitors range from comprehensive exchanges like Coinbase and Binance to protocol-level players such as Ethena, Hyperliquid, Aave, and Uniswap.
The project remains under active development, with the launch date described as "sooner than people think, later than people hope." Cronje emphasized that providing a redemption mechanism reduces the trade-offs founders face when responding to token price pressures, enabling more sustainable protocol decisions.
Flying Tulips approach reflects evolving trends in aligning investor protections with flexible DeFi design as the sector continues to mature.
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