Raising over 220 million! How does AC's new work Flying Tulip rewrite DeFi rules using 'perpetual put options'?

According to Gate market data, as of January 30, 2026, Bitcoin price dropped to $82,095.7 on January 30, down 6.44% in 24 hours. Ethereum also declined by 7.42% to $2,735.01. The global cryptocurrency market experienced a significant correction, with the total liquidations across the network reaching $1.007 billion within 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the DeFi project Flying Tulip, led by legendary developer Andre Cronje, announced the completion of $225.5 million in institutional funding, with a valuation of $1 billion.

Contrarian Financing

When the cryptocurrency market faces a cold spell, Flying Tulip has demonstrated remarkable fundraising ability. This project, created by DeFi legend Andre Cronje, has secured a total of $225.5 million in institutional financing. Behind this figure is strong market confidence in innovative DeFi architecture, especially in the current market environment.

Despite the overall market adjustment, professional investors remain highly focused on truly innovative DeFi protocols. The success of Flying Tulip’s fundraising indicates that capital is shifting from simple token speculation to projects with substantial technological innovation.

Project Blueprint

Flying Tulip is not content with being just another decentralized DeFi protocol; its goal is to build a unified on-chain financial system. The project integrates spot trading, lending, perpetual futures, insurance, and native stablecoin ftUSD within a single protocol architecture.

Unlike traditional DeFi stacks, Flying Tulip adopts a risk pricing method based on practically executable liquidity rather than relying on oracle-based abstract prices. This design allows capital to be reused across multiple products without affecting transparency or solvency. Users can use the same collateral for trading, lending, and derivatives positions simultaneously, greatly improving capital efficiency.

Innovative Mechanism

The most notable innovation of Flying Tulip is its “perpetual put option” structure, which provides unique protection for all investors. Simply put, investors participating in Flying Tulip’s funding hold FT tokens with the right to redeem at original price at any time.

This means that if investors choose, they can “burn” their FT tokens at any time and redeem assets equivalent to the original principal, such as ETH, from isolated on-chain reserves.

This mechanism essentially provides downside protection for investors’ principal while retaining upside potential. Cronje himself pointed out that, due to this redemption right, in a sense, “the actual fundraising is zero,” because these funds cannot be freely used.

Public Offering Details

For investors wishing to participate through public channels, Flying Tulip plans to conduct a public sale via CoinList. The public sale will take place from February 2 to 6, 2026, aiming to raise $200 million, representing 20% of the total FT token supply.

The public sale token price is $0.10, corresponding to a fully diluted valuation (FDV) of $1 billion for the project. The minimum purchase amount is $100, accepting USDC and USDT (ERC-20 only) as payment. Participants in the public sale will receive FT NFTs with redemption rights, which they can choose to hold, redeem principal, or unlock tokens for free trading.

Market Environment Analysis

The current cryptocurrency market is undergoing a significant correction. Bitcoin has fallen below the $85,000 mark, dropping over 5% in 24 hours.

According to Gate market data, as of January 30, Bitcoin price was $82,095.7, with a market cap of $1.76T; Ethereum price was $2,735.01, with a market cap of $353.69B. The two major cryptocurrencies declined by 6.44% and 7.42% respectively within 24 hours.

Market analysis indicates that this decline is related to multiple factors: including the reversal of yen arbitrage trading in traditional markets leading to tightening global liquidity, and capital flowing from crypto markets into traditional safe-haven assets like gold. In this market environment, the “perpetual put option” structure introduced by Flying Tulip appears particularly attractive, offering investors some downside protection.

Fund Usage and Roadmap

Flying Tulip plans to deploy the raised funds into conservative on-chain lending strategies with an annual return target of 4%. These earnings will support platform development, incentives, and token buybacks. Cronje stated that these strategies have historically yielded low single-digit returns, aiming to support early development of broader network activity.

According to protocol rules, future revenues from stablecoin, lending, and trading products will also be used to support the ecosystem, including FT token buybacks. The key parts of the platform are expected to go live after the Flying Tulip token generation event (TGE), which will occur after the completion of its public sale.

Market Significance and Outlook

Flying Tulip’s successful fundraising is particularly notable in the current market environment. The project has already attracted over $1.36 billion in investment interest, with only about $400 million remaining. This phenomenon indicates that, despite overall market sentiment being subdued, demand for truly innovative projects remains strong.

The core challenge faced by the industry—DeFi fragmentation—is what Flying Tulip aims to address. By creating a unified financial architecture, the project is expected to improve capital efficiency and reduce the inefficiencies often encountered when users interact with multiple independent systems.

As of January 30, the public sale quota for Flying Tulip has attracted over $1.36 billion in subscription interest, with about $400 million remaining, becoming a market focus. Investors are eager to secure access to the public sale starting February 2, hoping to gain an innovative DeFi asset with downside protection amid the crypto winter. As the token generation event approaches, this project led by Andre Cronje is set to move from blueprint to reality. On the Gate market page, alongside the price fluctuation curves of Bitcoin and Ethereum, a new trajectory for FT may soon emerge. This “perpetual put option” design of the tulip blooming against the crypto winter may be setting a new safety standard for the next generation of DeFi projects.