Uber has completed a pilot exploring how tokenized bank deposits and money market funds could help large companies earn returns on idle cash while keeping funds accessible for payments around the clock. The initiative involved HSBC, Franklin Templeton, Tradeweb and Fireblocks, with transactions conducted on the Canton Network.
During the test, Uber used HSBC's tokenized bank deposits to purchase shares in Franklin Templeton's tokenized money market fund through Tradeweb, while Fireblocks provided the wallet infrastructure. Uber also redeemed part of its holdings, including over a weekend, demonstrating how corporate treasuries could access invested cash beyond traditional market hours.
The pilot addresses a common challenge for large businesses: money kept in ordinary bank accounts may generate less yield than short-term investments, but accessing invested funds can take time. Companies with payment obligations outside banking hours often maintain additional cash reserves to ensure they have enough liquidity when needed.
Tokenization could help reduce that trade-off by bringing bank deposits and investment assets onto blockchain-based infrastructure. In Uber's pilot, both the fund shares and commercial bank money were represented as tokenized assets, allowing transactions to take place on the same network.
The system also used delivery-versus-payment settlement, meaning the fund tokens and corresponding payment moved together. This structure is designed to reduce the risk of one side of a transaction being completed without the other.
Uber's Vice President of Corporate Finance, Treasury and Capital Markets, Odette Rodrigues, said continuous access to cash and more efficient liquidity management are increasingly important to the company. She explained that the approach could provide greater flexibility to optimize returns on available cash while meeting payment obligations, potentially reducing the need to maintain large liquidity buffers.
Although the initiative remains a pilot rather than a full-scale commercial deployment, it offers an example of how tokenized money market funds and bank deposits could support more flexible corporate cash management. If adopted more broadly, such systems could allow companies to keep a larger share of their working capital in yield-bearing investments while retaining access to funds for payments at any time.
