Uber has tested a blockchain-based investment with HSBC and Franklin Templeton that earned an extra 1.5 days of yield by keeping corporate cash invested through part of the weekend.
Summary
- Uber bought a tokenized money market fund on Thursday and sold the investment on Sunday.
- HSBC supplied tokenized bank deposits, while Canton supported liquidity and settlement for the pilot.
- U.S. corporate customers are among those HSBC plans to bring into the investment service.
- Fireblocks CEO Michael Shaulov expects hundreds of companies to adopt similar models within 18 months.
According to Bloomberg, Uber used HSBC’s tokenized deposits to buy a Franklin Templeton tokenized money market fund. Tradeweb and Fireblocks participated in the transaction alongside the bank and asset manager.
The report describes a corporate treasury pilot involving an actual purchase and subsequent sale. The amount Uber invested and the dollar value of its additional earnings were not disclosed.
Uber’s weekend investment captured extra yield
Having bought the fund on a Thursday, Uber sold its investment on Sunday. Bloomberg reported that the transaction earned an additional 1.5 days of yield compared with the conventional treasury process, in which companies liquidate investments before markets close on Friday.
The extra return came from the time Uber’s cash remained invested. The reported figure refers to additional days of earnings, not a 1.5% return or a higher annual interest rate.
HSBC’s tokenized bank deposits provided the money used for the purchase, while Franklin Templeton supplied the investment product. Canton facilitated liquidity and settlement, according to Bloomberg.
Tokenized deposits represent claims against the commercial bank issuing them. As explained in earlier coverage of HSBC’s deposit infrastructure, they differ from stablecoins, which generally rely on separate reserve portfolios maintained by their issuers.
HSBC plans access for U.S. corporate customers
HSBC’s Manish Kohli said the pilot demonstrated technical readiness, according to the report. The bank plans to extend access to U.S. corporate customers and offer investment choices beyond Franklin Templeton’s products.
Shaulov’s forecast goes further. The Fireblocks chief executive expects hundreds of corporations to adopt blockchain-based investment models within 18 months. His projection concerns future adoption, while Uber’s transaction remains a pilot.
HSBC already operates tokenized deposit infrastructure in several markets. An Aug. 20 report on its interbank work with Swift described its Tokenised Deposit Service as live in Hong Kong, Singapore, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, the United States and the United Arab Emirates.
The service was introduced for eligible U.S. corporate and institutional customers in April 2026. HSBC said those clients could make domestic and cross-border transfers at any time, subject to availability and regulatory requirements.
Its supported currencies included the U.S. dollar, euro, British pound, Hong Kong dollar, Singapore dollar, offshore Chinese yuan and UAE dirham, according to the August coverage.
Franklin Templeton brought Benji to Canton before Uber’s test
Franklin Templeton’s relationship with Canton predates the Uber transaction. As previously covered by crypto.news, the asset manager integrated its Benji platform with the network in November 2025 to support institutional access to tokenized investment products.
At the time, Franklin Templeton’s head of digital assets, Roger Bayston, said the company wanted to meet institutions where they operated and where they were headed. The integration was presented as a way to combine interoperability with the privacy requirements of institutional clients.
Benji’s connection to Canton supported access to regulated financial instruments and the network’s collateral infrastructure. The earlier announcement addressed investment products and institutional connectivity.
HSBC’s deposit work has included a separate interbank transaction. On Aug. 19, HSBC and Standard Chartered connected their independently operated tokenized deposit systems through Swift’s blockchain ledger.
Swift coordinated the payment messages and matched and netted obligations before the banks recorded the results on their own systems. Final conventional-money settlement took place through existing payment systems, according to the August coverage.
Seventeen banks across six continents joined Swift’s initial rollout, including BNY, Citi, DBS, HSBC, Standard Chartered, UBS and Wells Fargo.
Uber’s interest in blockchain payments stretches back further. In June 2025, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the company was studying stablecoins for payments and potential savings on cross-border transactions.
Speaking at the Bloomberg Tech Summit in San Francisco, Khosrowshahi described stablecoins as promising for companies moving money globally. Uber’s position at that point was exploratory, with its chief executive saying the company remained in the study phase.