The Flying Tulip project, founded by renowned blockchain developer and Yearn.finance creator Andre Cronje, has announced the successful completion of a seed funding round totaling $200 million. As a result, the startup has attained “unicorn” status with a valuation of $1 billion.
This is reported by Business • Media
Plans for Public Token Sale and Project Features
The investment round lasted from August 14, 2025, for a month. Market players such as Brevan Howard Digital, CoinFund, DWF Labs, FalconX, Hypersphere, Lemniscap, Nascent, Republic Digital, Selini, Sigil Fund, Susquehanna Crypto, Tioga Capital, and Virtuals Protocol participated. No leading investor was identified. The deal structure is a SAFT (Simple Agreement for Future Tokens).
Flying Tulip is positioned as a next-generation exchange aimed at creating a comprehensive platform for spot trading, options, speculative assets, as well as lending and structured yield. All 100% of future FT tokens will be distributed among investors.
FT Token Mechanism and Development Strategy
The Flying Tulip team has announced preparations for a public token sale of an additional $800 million. These funds are planned to be invested in low-risk yield strategies to ensure project financing until the products reach self-sustainability. Additionally, part of the raised funds will be directed towards the buyback and burning of FT tokens, and there is consideration for using revenue from fees for these purposes.
A key innovation is the ability for both private and institutional investors to burn FT tokens to recover initial capital through a perpetual put option mechanism. According to Cronje’s estimates, at a rate of 4% per annum, capital could generate up to $40 million in profit annually. Potential partner protocols for revenue generation include Aave, Ethena, and Spark.
“Regular yield finances the growth and stimulation of Flying Tulip, providing protection against downturns through the perpetual put option and maintaining unlimited growth potential through the FT token,” he stated.
In the event of FT token sales on the secondary market, the perpetual put option is canceled, and the initial capital goes to the treasury for further buyback and burning of FT tokens. Thus, all 100% of the tokens will be distributed among investors.
In the past week, investments in Web3 projects reached $1.26 billion, indicating high interest and activity in the decentralized finance sector.