Uber has taken part in a blockchain-based investment pilot alongside HSBC and Franklin Templeton. It used tokenised deposits issued by HSBC to buy and sell a tokenised money market fund issued by Franklin Templeton. According to the announcement, the trial allowed Uber to earn an additional 1.5 days of returns on its cash. Tradeweb, Fireblocks, and the Canton Network supported the initiative by providing liquidity and settlement infrastructure.

How the pilot worked

Under the pilot, Uber bought units in Franklin Templeton’s tokenised money market fund on a Thursday using HSBC’s tokenised deposits and sold them the following Sunday. The investment and settlement took place on a public blockchain, so the transaction was not tied to conventional banking and market hours.

In the traditional approach, companies have needed to sell assets before banks and markets close on Friday to ensure access to cash over the weekend. The pilot removed that requirement, and the position stayed invested through the weekend. This accounts for the additional 1.5 days of returns.

Furthermore, both the cash leg and the asset leg of the transaction were tokenised, which allowed the purchase and sale to be completed on-chain without relying on standard settlement windows.

Treasury management context

The pilot reflects a broader effort by enterprises to improve yield on treasury balances while reducing their reliance on overdrafts and credit lines. In this model, a company can keep its cash in a yield-bearing instrument and still exit the position when needed, including outside normal operating hours. Participants say this allows companies to optimise cash without arranging credit facilities to cover short-term liquidity gaps.

For corporate treasurers, the model affects how idle balances are managed around weekends and market closures. Those periods have traditionally limited both returns and access to funds. Combining tokenised bank deposits with a tokenised fund instrument shows how a regulated bank and an asset manager can connect their products on shared blockchain infrastructure.

Next steps and adoption outlook

HSBC said the pilot has validated the technical feasibility of the approach. The bank added that the service is now ready for broader rollout and for scaling to other clients.

Fireblocks CEO Michael Shaulov expects hundreds of large enterprises to adopt the model within the next 18 months. If that happens, corporate treasury could become a significant use case for tokenised deposits and tokenised money market funds beyond the pilot stage. The pilot also gives an example of how banks, asset managers, trading venues, and digital asset infrastructure providers can each contribute to a single settlement workflow for corporate clients.