Uber tests how tokenization can put idle cash to work with HSBC, Franklin Templeton

Ride-hailing giant Uber tested a way to keep its corporate cash earning yield around the clock while still having it available for payments, using tokenized funds and bank deposits on the Canton Network.

The ride-hailing giant completed a pilot with HSBC, Franklin Templeton, Tradeweb and Fireblocks, the companies said in a Friday press release shared with CoinDesk, demonstrating how corporate treasurers could invest and access cash outside traditional market hours.

In the test, Uber used HSBC's tokenized bank deposits to purchase Franklin Templeton's tokenized money market fund shares through Tradeweb, with Fireblocks providing wallet infrastructure. Uber could also redeem part of its holdings, including over a weekend, with the transactions settling together on the Canton Network (CC).

The initiative aimed to tackle a practical problem for large companies: cash sitting idle in bank accounts earns less than money invested in short-term funds, but retrieving it can take time. Companies that need to make payments at night or over weekends often keep extra cash on hand rather than invest it.

Tokenization — putting assets such as money market funds and bank deposits on blockchain rails — could help close that gap. By allowing investments and payments to settle on the same network, firms could keep money invested longer and tap it when needed.

Putting liquidity to work

The pilot combined two types of tokenized assets: shares in Franklin Templeton's money market fund and HSBC deposits representing commercial bank money.

Trades used delivery-versus-payment settlement, meaning the fund tokens and payment moved together, reducing the risk of one side completing without the other.

"Always-on access to cash and the ability to put liquidity to work more efficiently are increasingly important to our business," said Odette Rodrigues, Uber's vice president of corporate finance, treasury and capital markets. “This solution gives us greater flexibility to optimize yield on available cash while meeting payment obligations seamlessly, reducing the need to maintain liquidity buffers.”

While the system remains a pilot, it offered a glimpse of how tokenized funds and bank money could work together to make round-the-clock cash management possible.

For corporate treasuries, that could mean keeping more cash in yield-bearing investments and tapping those funds for payments when needed, without holding large amounts of idle cash in reserve.

“This pilot is an important first step in our journey towards a more efficient, 24/7 model for managing our working capital,” Rodrigues said.