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

Uber completed a pilot on the Canton Network that let the ride‑hailing firm keep corporate cash earning yield around the clock while still being able to spend it on payments. The test, run with HSBC, Franklin Templeton, Tradeweb and Fireblocks, used tokenised money‑market fund shares and tokenised bank deposits. Uber bought the fund shares on a Thursday and redeemed part of the position on a Sunday, capturing roughly 1.5 extra days of yield. The effort was highlighted by Uber’s vice‑president of corporate finance, Odette Rodrigues, and HSBC’s global head of payments, Manish Kohli.

Background

Corporate treasurers traditionally park large cash balances in bank accounts because the cash must be instantly available for payments that can occur at any hour, including nights and weekends. Money‑market funds and short‑term securities typically offer higher yields than idle bank deposits, but moving cash into those funds and back again can take time, especially when markets close on Friday evenings. This timing gap forces companies to keep extra liquidity buffers, reducing overall returns on working capital. Tokenisation – placing assets such as money‑market fund shares and bank deposits on a blockchain – promises to narrow that gap by allowing investments and payments to settle on the same network at any hour. The Canton Network, a public blockchain designed for regulated institutions, provides the infrastructure for such on‑chain settlement, including delivery‑versus‑payment (DvP) mechanisms that ensure the asset and the payment move together, reducing settlement risk. Earlier in 2026, HSBC ran a tokenised‑deposit pilot on Canton, and Franklin Templeton integrated its Benji platform with the network in late 2025, laying the groundwork for a corporate‑focused test. The Uber pilot therefore represents a convergence of these tokenised asset offerings with a real‑world corporate cash‑management need.

What happened

According to the finance.biggo.com report, Uber used HSBC’s tokenised deposits to purchase shares in Franklin Templeton’s tokenised money‑market fund through Tradeweb, with Fireblocks providing the wallet infrastructure. The purchase occurred on a Thursday, and Uber redeemed part of the holdings over the weekend, receiving the proceeds on Sunday, all on the Canton Network. The report quotes Odette Rodrigues saying the solution gives Uber greater flexibility to optimise yield while meeting payment obligations, reducing the need for liquidity buffers. Fireblocks CEO Michael Shaulov is cited as noting that large amounts of cash sit idle between corporate payments and that the model can add interest income without sacrificing access. HSBC’s global head of payments, Manish Kohli, said the pilot demonstrated that the technology is ready for deployment to other U.S. clients and that the bank plans to explore additional investment options beyond Franklin Templeton. The Canton Network’s own Twitter post, summarized by genfinity.io, confirms that the tokenised cash leg came from HSBC deposits and the fund leg from Franklin Templeton, with Tradeweb handling the trade execution and Fireblocks settling the DvP on Canton. The pilot captured roughly 1.5 additional days of yield compared with the conventional approach of exiting investments before banks and markets close on Friday, as noted in multiple sources. All participants describe the effort as a pilot, not a full‑scale product, and emphasize that the amount invested and the dollar value of the extra yield were not disclosed.

Market impact

The pilot generated about 1.5 additional days of yield for Uber, a figure repeated across finance.biggo.com, cryptorank.io, coinedition.com and genfinity.io. No specific dollar amounts or investment sizes were disclosed, so the impact cannot be quantified in monetary terms. The test illustrates a functional use case for tokenised money‑market fund shares and tokenised bank deposits on a public blockchain, potentially opening a new avenue for corporate treasury management. HSBC’s statement that other U.S. clients are already using the capability suggests early adoption beyond Uber, while Fireblocks’ CEO projects that hundreds of companies could adopt similar models within the next 18 months. The pilot also showcases the Canton Network’s ability to handle on‑chain liquidity and settlement for regulated institutions, reinforcing its positioning as a venue for tokenised real‑world assets.

Why it matters

The pilot addresses a persistent inefficiency in corporate cash management: the inability to earn yield on cash that must be instantly available for payments outside normal market hours. By tokenising both the cash leg and the short‑term investment, Uber demonstrated that a company can keep more cash in yield‑bearing assets while still accessing those funds instantly, even over weekends. The delivery‑versus‑payment settlement reduces the risk that one leg of a transaction could settle without the other, which traditionally forces treasurers to keep larger liquidity buffers. If the model scales, it could compress the gap between cash and short‑term investments across many large corporates, potentially unlocking significant incremental returns on trillions of dollars of idle cash worldwide. Moreover, the successful use of a regulated‑friendly blockchain like Canton may encourage other financial institutions to develop similar tokenised products, accelerating broader institutional adoption of blockchain‑based treasury solutions.