HSBC-Led Trial Gives Uber 24-Hour Liquidity and Settlement

Key Facts

HSBC and its partners announced on October 30, 2026, the successful completion of a proof-of-concept trial for a solution that provides round-the-clock liquidity and settlement for corporate working capital management. Franklin Templeton, Tradeweb Markets and Fireblocks took part, with Uber acting as the trial client. The transactions were carried out on the Canton Network, using tokenized HSBC deposits to buy shares in a tokenized Franklin Templeton money market fund on Tradeweb. The companies thereby tested linking bank cash to fund assets in a single electronic workflow. Odette Rodriguez, Uber's vice president of corporate finance, treasury and capital markets, said the trial was "an important first step in our journey toward a more efficient model for managing working capital around the clock."

Purchases were executed on a delivery-versus-payment basis, with cash represented by tokenized HSBC deposits and fund assets traded across the same network through Fireblocks. The announcement said the cash and asset settle together almost instantly in a single, synchronized execution step. Under this arrangement, the transfer of funds and the associated asset takes place in one process, rather than in settlements separated in time. The companies said synchronized execution reduces settlement risk. The trial also included Uber liquidating part of its fund holdings, including over the weekend, while continuing to earn a return on the investment during the holding period.

The trial targets constraints corporate treasuries face when they need to convert short-term investments into funds for payments outside core banking hours. The companies said sales of money market fund shares or transfers between bank accounts are generally subject to cut-off times and settlement cycles of T+1 or longer. Under these constraints, treasury officials may have to hold cash reserves to cover urgent payments. The announcement said keeping eligible cash invested for longer could improve working capital returns by reducing those reserves. Access to liquidity when payments fall due allows companies to combine continued investment with the ability to convert part of their holdings into funds available for spending.

Tradeweb said the test explores extending existing electronic workflows for corporate treasuries to include tokenized money market funds and digital cash. This model would allow treasury officials to remain invested for longer, then convert holdings into funds for payments when needed. Tradeweb's corporate treasury portal provides direct access to more than 500 investment products across multiple countries and currencies, including money market funds, Treasury bills, time deposits and bond funds. According to the company's website, more than 650 treasury teams and thousands of professionals rely on the ICD Portal and ICD Portfolio Analytics platforms. These services place the trial within the company's existing corporate liquidity management business, while the project tests the possibility of integrating them with tokenized cash and assets.

The trial comes as the tokenized money market fund market expands, though it remains concentrated in a limited number of products. The European Central Bank estimated the market at about 7 billion euros, including about 725 million euros in fund assets registered in the European Union. In the ECB's comparison, the market value of these funds rose about 110% in 2025, while stablecoins increased 49% and EU-regulated money market funds declined 11%. The bank noted that the 10 largest funds account for more than 90% of global market value, with most investing primarily in government bonds. By contrast, the International Monetary Fund said on October 8, 2026, that tokenized asset markets remain small and fragmented, although trading in tokenized assets, including money market funds, adds about 65 billion dollars to daily transaction volume.

The ability to transfer fund units on the network remains distinct from converting them into bank cash. A 2026 paper published by the Federal Reserve noted that tokenized money market fund units can be transferred over blockchain on a 24/7/365 basis, but converting them into dollars requires redemption from the fund, which typically takes 1-2 business days. The International Monetary Fund said the expansion of tokenization requires clarity on legal and regulatory rights, interoperability between platforms, and the use of safe, widely accepted settlement assets; it also described current trading as fragmented across networks, platforms and settlement arrangements. The tokenized Franklin Templeton fund balances continue to earn a return until the funds are paid out, while tokenized HSBC deposits represent commercial bank money held in accounts at the bank. Tradeweb shares closed at 122.54 dollars on October 30, compared with a close of 118.88 dollars on October 29. In the third quarter of 2026, the company reported average daily trading volume of 3.2 trillion dollars, up 22.4% year over year, and quarterly revenue of 584.5 million dollars, up 14.9%.