Uber uses a public blockchain to grow its cash reserves on weekends

Uber, working with HSBC and Franklin Templeton, used a public blockchain to resell a treasury investment on a Sunday—when traditional financial markets are closed—earning an extra 1.5 days of interest, in a pilot that could appeal to other multinationals seeking weekend yield on idle corporate cash. The test involved tokenized money market fund exposure, with Franklin Templeton providing the investment vehicle and HSBC acting as banking partner, demonstrating that on-chain settlement can extend trading beyond traditional market hours. The move matters because it signals growing corporate adoption of tokenized assets for treasury management, a market that has been expanding rapidly as asset managers tokenize funds on public chains. It also highlights how blockchain's always-on settlement infrastructure can capture incremental returns unavailable in conventional rails, where weekend trades must wait for Monday settlement. What to watch next: whether other large corporates follow Uber's lead, further tokenization launches by Franklin Templeton and rivals like BlackRock, and any regulatory guidance on public-chain settlement for corporate treasury operations.