Uber Tests Tokenized Cash Management With HSBC and Franklin Templeton
The pilot with HSBC, Franklin Templeton, and Fireblocks ran through the Canton Network and combined tokenized deposits with money market funds for 24/7 cash management.
Key Takeaways
- Uber completed a pilot with HSBC, Franklin Templeton, Tradeweb, and Fireblocks for tokenized cash management.
- The test used tokenized bank deposits and tokenized money market fund shares on the Canton Network, even outside market hours and on weekends.
- Uber wants this setup to optimize returns on cash while also handling payments faster and more flexibly.
Uber has completed a pilot with HSBC, Franklin Templeton, Tradeweb, and Fireblocks to let corporate cash earn longer while still keeping it quickly available for payments. In the test, Uber used tokenized bank deposits and tokenized money market fund shares on the Canton Network, even outside regular market hours and on weekends.
How the Test Worked
According to the companies involved, Uber used HSBC's tokenized bank deposits to buy shares in Franklin Templeton's tokenized money market fund through Tradeweb. Fireblocks provided the wallet infrastructure for settlement. The transactions were settled together on the Canton Network, so the purchase and payment could move at the same time.
That matters for large companies that often leave part of their cash sitting idle. Money in a bank account usually earns less than money in short-term funds, but getting that money back can take time. Companies that need to make payments at night or on weekends often keep extra liquidity on hand for that reason.
Why This Matters for Treasury
Tokenization makes it possible to put financial assets, such as money market funds and bank deposits, on blockchain rails. That means investments and payments can be settled on the same network, which can make continuous settlement possible and narrow the gap between banking hours and payment flows.
The Canton Network is not just a public chain. The network was built for regulated institutions and offers privacy and interoperability, which makes it more practical for players like Uber, banks, and fund managers to run this kind of test. The underlying infrastructure is also gaining more traction: Digital Asset recently raised $355 million for Canton Network growth, which further highlights the network's role in institutional tokenization.
What Uber Wanted to Test
Uber said this setup gives it more flexibility to optimize yield on available cash while still meeting payment obligations. The company called the pilot a first step toward a more efficient 24/7 model for working capital management.
For European crypto and fintech readers, this shows how blockchain is being used not just in the crypto market itself, but also in the infrastructure of large companies. Pilots like this can matter because they show how tokenized assets and traditional financial systems can work side by side, without it immediately being about a public crypto token.
