Transportation leader Uber evaluated a method to maintain continuous yield generation on corporate reserves while retaining liquidity for transactions through blockchain-based deposits and funds on the Canton Network.
The global ride-sharing enterprise executed a trial alongside HSBC, Franklin Templeton, Tradeweb, and Fireblocks, according to a Friday announcement distributed to CoinDesk, highlighting how corporate finance teams might manage and access funds outside standard banking hours.
Throughout the experiment, Uber utilized HSBC’s digitized bank deposits to acquire shares of Franklin Templeton’s tokenized money market fund via Tradeweb, utilizing Fireblocks for secure wallet support. Uber additionally possessed the capability to liquidate portions of its portfolio, even throughout weekends, with all trades clearing simultaneously on the Canton Network.
This project was designed to address a common challenge for major corporations: capital remaining inactive in conventional bank accounts generates lower returns compared to short-term investments, yet withdrawing it can involve delays. Enterprises requiring the ability to settle transactions during evening hours or weekend periods frequently maintain extra liquid funds rather than deploying them into investments.
Asset tokenization—placing financial instruments like money market products and bank balances onto distributed ledgers—offers a potential solution to this limitation. By enabling investments and fund transfers to finalize within the same infrastructure, organizations can extend their investment timeframes and withdraw capital instantly when required.
Putting liquidity to work
The test integrated two categories of digital assets: units of Franklin Templeton’s money market fund alongside HSBC balances reflecting commercial bank capital.
The exchanges operated via delivery-versus-payment finality, meaning fund tokens and financial settlements transferred simultaneously, minimizing counterparty risk.
“Always-on access to cash and the ability to put liquidity to work more efficiently are increasingly important to our business,” stated 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.”
Although the infrastructure currently functions as a trial, it provided an indication of how digital securities and programmable bank money might collaborate to achieve continuous, round-the-clock liquidity administration.
For enterprise finance departments, this capability could translate to allocating a larger portion of funds into interest-generating vehicles and accessing those balances for liabilities whenever necessary, avoiding the requirement to hold substantial reserves of uninvested capital.
“This pilot is an important first step in our journey towards a more efficient, 24/7 model for managing our working capital,” Rodrigues noted.
Originally published at https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/10/31/uber-tests-how-tokenization-can-put-idle-cash-to-work-with-hsbc-franklin-templeton.
