I just found out that Andre Cronje is back in action. For those who don’t know, he’s the architect of Yearn Finance and the main brain behind Fantom. And now he’s launching Flying Tulip — a project that has already raised $200 million in a private round with a valuation of $1 billion. Serious funds like Brevan Howard Digital, CoinFund, and DWF Labs are already involved.

The most interesting aspect of Flying Tulip is the investor protection mechanism they call on-chain redemption right or perpetual put. The idea is simple: if you hold the FT token, you can burn it at any time and get your initial investment back, say in ETH. This is truly groundbreaking because it creates a signaling price and relieves short-term pressure on the founders. The buyback reserve fund is stored separately on-chain, isolated from the capital used in profitable strategies.

Regarding funding, Andre Cronje has committed to investing up to $1 billion into protocols like Aave, Ethena, and Spark. This should generate approximately $40 million in annual revenue, which will go toward development and transparent token buybacks.

Essentially, Flying Tulip is positioned as a full-fledged on-chain exchange with spot trading, derivatives, lending, its own stablecoin ftUSD, and on-chain insurance. It’s not just a rehash of old ideas but a modernized comprehensive platform.

The return of a figure of this caliber with a more sustainable model is a strong signal. It shows that the DeFi space is not only maturing but also constantly evolving. Currently, the market is under some pressure: BTC is trading at around $68.36K (-1.87%), BNB has fallen to $597.40 (-1.33%), but projects like Flying Tulip demonstrate that innovation in the sector continues.