Uber Tests Weekend Trading In Tokenized Market Fund Investments
Companies are turning to blockchain and tokenized assets to boost profits by taking advantage of 24/7 trading.
Uber, a public ride-hailing app with a market capitalization of over $130 billion, has announced it leveraged tokenized investment opportunities in a recent investment test. Using blockchain, the company purchased a Franklin Templeton-tokenized money market fund on Tuesday and sold it on a Sunday.
The move allowed it to accrue 1.5 more days of yield compared to operations executed using traditional market funds, which would have to be sold on Friday, as other companies currently do.
Franklin Templeton, HSBC Holdings, Fireblocks, and Tradeweb Markets were involved in this test, executed on top of the Canton Network, a blockchain network developed to support this kind of institutional operation.
Fireblocks CEO Michael Shaulov stressed that tokenization could solve the problem of putting idle capital in treasuries to work without giving up access to it.
“We believe many major corporations and multinationals will use this model to earn additional interest on cash that would otherwise be idle, and I expect hundreds to begin using this model within the next 18 months,” he told Bloomberg.
Manish Kohli, global head of payments at HSBC, stressed that this pilot showed the bank was ready to intermediate these operations. “We are able in the US offer this capability to them. Over time we’ll look to expand the number of available investment options, in addition to Franklin Templeton,” he declared.
The test comes as tokenization has risen to the public eye, with public companies refusing to have their shares brought onchain by venues operating under the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Innovation Exemption umbrella. Microsoft, McDonald’s and even Walmart are opting out of this possibility.
Even so, banking figures tout tokenization as the next big thing for financial markets. During the bank’s latest earnings call, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said that tokenization was an important trend across markets, highlighting that the bank had already tokenized bonds, money market funds, and real estate for select customers.
The tokenized asset market is still in its initial stages, with only $40 billion in assets tokenized to date, according to RWA.xyz.
