The Biggest DeFi Event In Years? Andre Cronje’s Flying Tulip Targets $1B

Andre Cronje's latest project, Flying Tulip, will open its public token sale on Feb. 16, with a maximum fundraising cap of $1 billion. The DeFi platform has already attracted $127.36 million in deposits and generated $88,110 in yield before its official launch. 

Unlike traditional token sales, Flying Tulip offers unconditional refunds at any time, with all raised funds deployed into low-risk yield strategies like Aave and Lido.

Why Is This Fundraise Different From Traditional Token Sales?

Flying Tulip's model breaks from standard crypto fundraising by treating deposits more like collateralized positions than permanent investments. Participants deposit stablecoins that get put to work in established DeFi protocols. In return, they receive FT tokens. The platform keeps the yield generated from these deposits as its actual revenue source, while users maintain the right to withdraw their original deposit whenever they choose.

Cronje explained the mechanism in a detailed Q&A: "What are we actually raising? The yield. Flying Tulip takes the yield off of those deposits. That's the opportunity cost." This means the project isn't raising $1 billion in traditional venture capital. Instead, it's creating a system where depositors can either profit from FT token appreciation or exit with their full deposit intact.

The platform currently shows real-time metrics on its dashboard, with all redemptions happening onchain and visible to anyone. Users control their investments through a PUT option system that requires zero interaction with the Flying Tulip team for withdrawals. The contracts are already live and processing redemptions, providing transparency that most token sales lack during their fundraising phase.

How Does the 10 Cent Floor Actually Work?

One of Flying Tulip's most talked-about features is its 10 cent floor price for the FT token. This isn't a promise or target price but a mechanism built into the smart contracts themselves. Every depositor contributes $0.10 per FT token they receive, and that capital serves as collateral backing the floor price. Understanding how this works is key to evaluating whether the project's claims hold up.

The 10 cent floor price mechanism operates through programmatic buybacks built directly into the smart contracts. When depositors want to exit, they have two choices. If FT trades above 10 cents, they can sell their tokens on the open market for profit. If FT trades below 10 cents, they can redeem their original deposit at the 10 cent valuation.

Here's the technical part: if someone withdraws FT and sells below 10 cents, their refund collateral unlocks automatically. The protocol uses this collateral to buy back FT tokens until the price returns to 10 cents. Cronje noted there might be "slight timing inconsistencies," but the floor operates automatically through smart contracts without human intervention.

This approach resembles options trading in traditional finance. In the stock market, PUT options give holders the right to sell at a predetermined price. Flying Tulip applies this concept to DeFi, giving token holders downside protection while maintaining upside potential. The mechanism creates an asymmetric risk profile where losses are capped but gains remain unlimited.

Who Is Andre Cronje and Why Does This Matter?

Andre Cronje built Yearn Finance in 2020, which became one of DeFi's largest yield aggregators with billions in total value locked at its peak. Yearn automated the process of moving funds between different protocols to maximize returns, introducing the concept of yield farming vaults to mainstream DeFi users. The platform's YFI token launched with zero premine and no founder allocation, distributing entirely to users.

After leaving and returning to DeFi multiple times, Cronje has launched several protocols including Keep3r Network, a decentralized job marketplace for smart contract maintenance, and contributed to Fantom's DeFi ecosystem. His track record shows both innovation and controversy. Some projects succeeded while others faced criticism for incomplete launches or sudden departures.

This history makes Flying Tulip's structure particularly interesting. The unconditional refund mechanism addresses a common criticism of his previous work: that users got locked into positions they couldn't easily exit. By allowing full redemptions at any time, the project removes exit friction that plagued earlier DeFi protocols.

What Products Will Flying Tulip Offer?

The platform plans to launch as a full-stack onchain exchange integrating multiple financial services. Products will go live once the FT token becomes transferable, with a phased rollout approach to ensure system stability.

ftUSD Stablecoin and Yield Strategy

ftUSD serves as Flying Tulip's native stablecoin and settlement layer for all future applications. At launch, it functions as a USDC wrapper that deposits into Aave. Within one to two weeks, the platform will enable a delta neutral strategy similar to Ethena's USDe model.

Delta neutral strategies make money from funding rates while hedging directional price risk. When you hold staked ETH (stETH) and short ETH futures, you earn staking yields plus funding payments without exposure to ETH price movements. Ethena popularized this approach in 2024, reaching billions in stablecoin supply by offering 15% to 30% yields during peak periods.

Flying Tulip's ftUSD will capture yields from staked assets like stETH/ETH, stBNB/BNB, and stAVAX/AVAX pairs. Current projections estimate 4% to 8% annual yields on USDC and USDT deposits. The platform also plans modules for collateralized debt positions (CDPs) and arbitrage bots, though these features will launch later.

Margin Lending Platform

The margin lending system uses margin equity calculations instead of traditional loan-to-value (LTV) ratios. Most DeFi lending protocols like Aave or Compound set fixed LTV ratios per asset. For example, you might deposit $1,000 in ETH and borrow up to $800 in USDC at 80% LTV.

Flying Tulip's margin equity model works more like centralized exchange margin accounts. Your total account value determines borrowing power across all positions, similar to how Interactive Brokers or traditional brokerages calculate margin requirements. This enables more capital efficiency and complex trading strategies.

The platform will enable spot trading, leveraged spot positions, and total return swaps (TRS) once the lending market proves stable in production. All features exist in the codebase but will launch under controlled conditions to ensure system security.

Multi-Chain Deployment Strategy

Flying Tulip has deployed contracts across Ethereum, Sonic, BNB Chain, Avalanche, and Base. The team is reviewing expansions to Hyperliquid, MegaETH, and Monad. All contract addresses are available in the project's public registry for verification.

This follows a $200 million private funding round last September at a $1 billion valuation. The project aims to build a central limit order book (CLOB), automated market makers (AMM), derivatives trading, and onchain insurance within a single cross-margin system.

Conclusion

Flying Tulip combines yield generation, token incentives, and risk management into a single DeFi platform. The $1 billion fundraising cap represents deposits that users can withdraw at any time, not locked venture capital. The 10 cent floor mechanism provides downside protection through automatic buybacks, while the yield from deployed funds finances protocol operations and token buybacks.

The platform launches with ftUSD stablecoin offering 4% to 8% yields and a margin lending system that uses equity-based calculations instead of fixed LTV ratios. Additional products like derivatives, insurance, and order book trading will activate after the core systems operate reliably in production. With contracts deployed across five blockchains and public verification available onchain, Flying Tulip's structure allows users to verify operations and exit positions without requiring trust in the development team.

Resources

1. Flying Tulip on X: Posts (February, 2026)

2. Andre Cronje on X: Post on Feb. 10

3. Flying Tulip docs: Flying Tulip Roadmap

4. Press release by Flying Tulip: Flying Tulip Raises $200M; Announces $FT Public Sale at Same Valuation with onchain Redemption Right