# Andre Cronje’s Flying Tulip Raises $200M at $1B Token Valuation: The Block

*Author: Bankless*
*Published: Sep 29, 2025*
*Source: https://www.bankless.com/read/news/andre-cronjes-flying-tulip-raises-200m-at-1b-token-valuation-the-block*

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DeFi pioneer Andre Cronje’s Flying Tulip has closed a $200M private seed round at a $1B valuation. The raise began in August, drawing participation from Brevan Howard Digital, CoinFund, DWF Labs, FalconX, Hypersphere, Lemniscap, Republic Digital, Susquehanna Crypto, and more.

### What’s the Scoop?
- **New Perp Chain: **Flying Tulip will be a onchain exchange that encompasses "all of DeFi," packaging spot, derivatives, lending, stablecoins, and insurance markets under one roof.
- **Public ICO: **Fying Tulip now plans to raise up to another $800M through a public sale of its FT token at the same $1 billion valuation. The sale will be hosted on Flying Tulip's own platform.
- **Novel Fundraise Design:** Both private and public investors will receive an “onchain redemption right,” allowing them to redeem up to FT tokens for their originally contributed assets (e.g. ETH) at any time.
- **Downside Protection, Unlimited Upside:** Cronje said this structure reduces team pressure to prioritize token price, while revenues from the reserve can go towards generating yield that funds growth, incentives, and buybacks.
- **Aligned Incentives:** FT tokens remain non-transferable until the public sale is complete. The team receives no initial allocation, and compensation will come via buybacks, tying rewards to performance.
- **Multichain Deployment:** Initial rollout will launch on Sonic with zero-fee trading, before expanding to Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, BNB Chain, and others.

> [https://t.co/aiEY6AlGmx](https://t.co/aiEY6AlGmx) [pic.twitter.com/cgie4nsx5L](https://t.co/cgie4nsx5L)— flyingtulip (@flyingtulip_) [September 29, 2025](https://twitter.com/flyingtulip_/status/1972697549904433664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
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