Andre Cronje’s latest project, Flying Tulip, has raised $200M in a private round and is opening a public sale of its FT crypto token at the same $1Bn valuation.
The exchange startup, based in New York, announced the move on September 29, stating that it is building a full-on-chain trading platform.
The plan combines a native stablecoin, money markets, spot, derivatives, options, and insurance into one system.
By linking everything through cross-margin, the company says it can make capital more efficient for users.
The public sale will be run directly on-chain across several networks. Details such as which assets are supported, the amount that will circulate at launch, and the official contract addresses will be published exclusively on the project’s website to minimize phishing risks.
The company is targeting as much as $1Bn in funding between private and public phases. With $200M already secured, up to $800M could be offered to the public.
Flying Tulip confirmed that official addresses will appear only on its site before the sale goes live.
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How Is the Flying Tulip Team Incentivized Without Token Allocations?
A key feature of the launch is what the team calls a perpetual on-chain “redemption right.”
Both private and public buyers will be able to burn FT tokens at any time and reclaim their original contribution in the same asset, such as ETH.
This is designed to give investors downside protection and set the project apart from typical token launches.
Flying Tulip stated that redemptions will be handled directly from a segregated on-chain reserve, funded with capital from the raise. To maintain the system’s solvency and prevent abuse, contracts include a queue and rate-limit mechanism.
The company also noted that the redemption right is not insured and is bound by the size of the reserve and the protocol’s rules.
To reduce the risk of fast arbitrage trades, FT tokens will remain non-transferable until the public sale closes. Buyers will not be able to trade or transfer them during the subscription period.
The team behind Flying Tulip will not receive any tokens at launch.
Instead, the project says its members will only gain exposure through open-market buybacks. These will be funded by a portion of protocol revenues and follow a published schedule.
The idea is to tie team incentives to platform adoption and long-term performance, rather than allocating resources upfront.
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What Does Andre Cronje Mean by “Institutional-Grade Market Structure”?
The $1Bn fully diluted valuation applied in the private round now extends to the public phase.
The company listed a wide range of backers, including Brevan Howard Digital, CoinFund, DWF, FalconX, Hypersphere, Lemniscap, Nascent, Republic Digital, Selini, Sigil Fund, Susquehanna Crypto, Tioga Capital, and Virtuals Protocol.
“Our goal is to provide institutional-grade market structure with onchain guarantees and clear alignment between users, investors, and the team,” Cronje said in the announcement.
Flying Tulip says it will disclose its chains, assets, initial float, and the official sale contracts ahead of the public sale. Key open questions include how the redemption reserve performs under stress and how secondary-market liquidity develops once transfer restrictions are lifted.
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The post FT Crypto? Andre Cronje Launches Flying Tulip With $200M Backing appeared first on 99Bitcoins.
