The Flying Tulip (FT) token became transferable and began trading today, Feb. 23, marking the token generation event (TGE) for the latest DeFi project linked to Andre Cronje, a systems architect best known for building early DeFi protocols Yearn Finance and Fantom.
Data from CoinGecko shows that despite an initial dip to around $0.08, FT has spent its first hours trading sideways around the $0.10 mark, implying a fully diluted valuation of around $1 billion.
FT Public Sale, Explained
Flying Tulip’s public sale price was set at $0.10, but it wasn’t a standard token sale. The project’s tokenomics make $0.10 something like a floor price for the asset trading on the open market, as public sale participants have the right to break even on their investment at any time.
Early buyers didn’t just get regular tokens but received ftPUTs, which are non-fungible tokens with a built-in perpetual put option, which gives holders the right, under certain rules, to redeem their tokens at the public sale price of $0.10, instead of having to sell them on the open market.
As Cronje explained earlier this month in an X post, given the project’s tokenomics, “Flying Tulip FDV is not standard FDV.” Typically, FDV is calculated by multiplying total token supply multiplied by current token price.
But Flying Tulip departs from that model because each FT token is only created if it is backed by a corresponding put option, leaving no path for unbacked supply to enter circulation. When tokens are redeemed, they’re also removed from circulating supply.
That tokenomics design means every token is effectively collateralized by its own $0.10, making the system “closer to a NAV valuation than FDV,” Cronje highlighted, adding, “this is something new, and aligns participation far more than any previous model.”
Flying Tulip is positioned as a DeFi “super app,” aiming to bring spot trading, perpetual derivatives and lending into a single interface.
Ahead of the launch, Flying Tulip wasn’t short on cash. The project had already pulled in $200 million in September last year from backers including Brevan Howard and DWF Labs, then added another tens of millions through later rounds and public sales on platforms such as Impossible Finance and CoinList.