The emergence of Flying Tulip reminds people of the era in 2020 when "code changed finance."
Written by: Bootly
When everyone thought Andre Cronje had faded from the crypto scene, this legendary figure known as the "Father of DeFi" has returned.
This time he brings a brand new project—Flying Tulip, which today announced the completion of $200 million in funding and plans to launch a public token sale.
What’s more special is that this public sale comes with an unprecedented mechanism: users can destroy tokens at any time and retrieve their principal. This means that participants have "downside protection," while upside potential remains unlimited.
Who is Andre Cronje?
If you experienced the DeFi summer of 2020, you must have heard his name.
Andre Cronje is the founder of Yearn Finance (YFI)—a legendary developer who sparked the DeFi craze solely through code. YFI was once hailed as "the fairest token" because he did not reserve any share for himself at the time.
However, after experiencing several project successes, community disputes, and security incidents, Cronje faded from the public eye in 2022. Until today, he returns with Flying Tulip.
What is Flying Tulip?
The editor interprets: "Flying Tulip" literally means "flying tulip." The tulip is the most famous symbol of a bubble in financial history (the "Tulip Mania" of the 17th century is one of the earliest speculative bubbles).
By naming the project Flying Tulip, Cronje is somewhat self-mocking and making a declaration: the crypto world may resemble tulips, but this time, he wants it to truly "fly." In other words, Flying Tulip aims to transform what once represented "bubbles" into something more stable, real, and vibrant through on-chain mechanisms.
From the official documentation, Flying Tulip aims to create a fully on-chain financial platform that integrates many functions familiar to crypto users—stablecoins, lending, spot trading, derivatives, options, and insurance—into one system.
In simple terms, it wants to be a "one-stop DeFi platform" that allows users to:
- Earn yields by depositing coins;
- Borrow coins for leverage;
- Go long or short;
- Even hedge risks through on-chain insurance.
All of this is accomplished within a unified account system, eliminating the need to frequently switch between different platforms.
A "Refundable" Token Public Sale
The most eye-catching aspect this time is Flying Tulip's "Onchain Redemption Right."
Traditionally, once users participate in a token public sale, their funds are locked regardless of price fluctuations.
But Flying Tulip offers a "programmatic redemption" mechanism—
All participants can destroy their $FT tokens at any time to retrieve their invested principal (e.g., ETH).
The system will automatically return funds from a separate on-chain reserve pool.
This design resembles an on-chain insurance mechanism, ensuring that investors do not "lose everything" while retaining upside potential.
However, it is important to note that the official reminder states this is not a "guaranteed return" or "deposit insurance"—the size of the reserve pool is limited, and whether the redemption right can be executed depends on the sufficiency of funds in the pool.
Funds Are Not Locked: Using Returns to Fuel Growth
Cronje mentioned in the roadshow materials presented to investors that this design may seem to lock up funds, but in reality, Flying Tulip plans to invest this capital into on-chain yield strategies, such as mainstream DeFi protocols like Aave, Ethena, and Spark.
Their goal is to achieve an annualized yield of about 4%.
Based on a planned funding cap of $1 billion, this could generate approximately $40 million in interest income annually.
- This income will be used to:
- Pay protocol incentives;
- Buy back $FT tokens;
- Support ecosystem growth and market promotion.
Cronje described in the investor materials: "We use cyclical returns to drive growth and incentives, with permanent put options to protect investors' downside while retaining the potential for unlimited upside of the tokens—this forms a self-reinforcing growth flywheel."
The Team Has Not Reserved Any Shares
Another highlight is that the Flying Tulip team has no initial token allocation.
Their income comes entirely from the project's real earnings, using these revenues to buy back $FT tokens in the market and release them according to a public plan.
In other words, the team can only earn returns when the protocol is genuinely profitable and users are actively using it.
This aligns the team with investors— the more popular the project becomes, the more they earn.
A Luxurious Capital Lineup, Targeting $1 Billion in Funding
Flying Tulip has already completed $200 million in private funding, with investors including:
- Brevan Howard Digital
- CoinFund
- DWF Labs
- FalconX
- Hypersphere
- Nascent
- Republic Digital
- Susquehanna Crypto, among others.
Next, they will simultaneously launch the public sale across multiple chains, targeting a total funding of up to $1 billion.
Conclusion
The emergence of Flying Tulip reminds people of the era in 2020 when "code changed finance."
The difference is that this time, Andre Cronje aims to do more than just innovate products; he wants to make DeFi more trustworthy and sustainable. In the wake of the DeFi bear market's reshuffling and the collapse of trust, Cronje's return may not only signify the comeback of a developer but also a signal: a new DeFi cycle may be reignited.
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