The Yearn founder’s new platform aims to unify DeFi services like spot trading, derivatives and lending.
Flying Tulip, the latest venture from prolific decentralized finance (DeFi) developer Andre Cronje, has raised $200 million in a private seed round, valuing the project at a fully diluted valuation (FDV) of $1 billion. Prominent participants included Brevan Howard Digital, CoinFund, DWF Labs, and Susquehanna Crypto.
The project plans to raise an additional $800 million through a public sale of its native FT token at the same valuation, conducted on Flying Tulip’s proprietary platform. However, exact dates for the platform’s launch and token sale remain uncertain.
Described as a full-stack onchain exchange, Flying Tulip aims to unify DeFi services, including spot trading, derivatives, lending, stablecoins, and insurance, into a single ecosystem. The platform is an evolution of the Deriswap model laid out by Cronje in 2020 that aimed to merge multiple DeFi functions under one system.
Notably, Flying Tulip introduces an “onchain redemption right,” allowing both private and public investors to redeem their $FT tokens for their original principal at any time, providing downside protection.
Cronje told The Block that the mechanism prevents the misuse of raised capital, as the funds can only be deployed into onchain strategies such as Aave, Ethena, and Spark to generate an annual yield of approximately 4%. The resulting yield, estimated to generate $40 million annually from $1 billion in raised capital, is expected to fund the platform’s development.
Team members will not receive an initial token allocation, with their compensation contingent on market buybacks funded by protocol revenue, aligning incentives with the platform’s success.
According to a pitch deck viewed by The Block, Cronje anticipates that protocol revenues will fuel token buybacks, ecosystem incentives, and higher yields. This approach aims to create a “self-reinforcing growth flywheel” while mitigating the stress caused by short-term price fluctuations, a challenge Cronje encountered with previous projects, such as Yearn Finance.
Flying Tulip aims to provide a unified DeFi ecosystem that includes a native stablecoin (ftUSD), zero-fee trading on certain networks, and integration of both automated market maker (AMM) and central limit order book (CLOB) systems. Sources of revenue include trading and lending fees, liquidations, stablecoin yield, and insurance products.
The platform will initially support Ethereum, Avalanche, BNB Chain, Sonic, and Solana, with an early launch phase focused on Sonic.
