Andre Cronje’s Flying Tulip Completes $200M Raise

Andre Cronje’s Flying Tulip, a full-stack on-chain exchange, announced it has raised $200 million in a private funding round. The exchange also plans to open an on-chain public sale of the FT token at the same valuation. 

The initiative aims to deliver a unified market structure for digital assets, combining a native stablecoin, spot and derivatives trading, and on-chain insurance in a system designed for efficiency. 

Flying Tulip Raises $200M 

Flying Tulip, Andre Cronje’s latest project, has raised $200 million in a private round. The platform is also opening a public sale of its native FT token at the same valuation. The startup, based in New York, announced the fundraising and sale of FT tokens on September 29, adding that it is building a complete on-chain trading platform. Under the plan, Flying Tulip will combine a native stablecoin, money markets, spot and derivatives options, and insurance into a single system. The company added that linking everything through cross-margin can make capital more efficient for end users. 

The company also stated that the public sale will be run directly on-chain across several networks. Other details, including assets supported, amount in circulation at launch, and official contract addresses, will be published on Flying Tulip’s website to minimize phishing risks. The firm plans to raise $1 billion in funding between private and public phases, with up to $800 million offered to the public. 

Incentivization Without Token Allocations?

One of the key features of the launch is the perpetual on-chain redemption right. Private and public buyers of FT can burn the token at any time and reclaim their original contribution towards the asset. This minimizes downside risk and protects investors, while settling the project apart from typical token launches. Flying Tulip clarified that a segregated on-chain reserve will handle redemptions, which will be funded by capital from the raise. All contracts will include a queue and rate-limit mechanism to maintain the system’s solvency and prevent abuse. Additionally, the redemption right is not insured and is bound by the size of the reserve and the protocol’s rules. 

Furthermore, the FT tokens will remain non-transferable until the end of the public sale. This will help reduce the risk of fast arbitrage trades. As a result, buyers will not be able to trade or transfer their tokens during the subscription period. The team behind the project will also not receive any tokens at launch. Instead, team members will gain exposure to the tokens through open-market buybacks. The buybacks will be funded by a portion of the protocol’s revenue, and will follow a published schedule. 

Institutional-Grade Market Structure 

Flying Tulip listed a host of backers, including  Brevan Howard Digital, CoinFund, DWF, FalconX, Hypersphere, Lemniscap, Nascent, Republic Digital, Selini, Sigil Fund, Susquehanna Crypto, Tioga Capital, and Virtuals Protocol. Founder Andre Cronje stated, 

“Our goal is to provide institutional-grade market structure with on-chain guarantees and clear alignment between users, investors, and the team.”

The company will disclose its chains, assets, initial float, and official sales contracts ahead of the public sale.

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.