网约车公司优步技术公司利用公共区块链投资其公司资金，通过周末交易获得更高回报——这一做法预计将在未来几个月被越来越多的公司采用。
The ride-hailing company Uber Technologies Inc. used a public blockchain to invest its corporate funds in a way that allowed the company to capture higher returns by trading on a weekend — a setup expected to be adapted by a growing number of companies in the coming months.
优步利用汇丰银行的代币化存款——即区块链上以数字代币形式存在的银行资金——于周四购买了富兰克林邓普顿的代币化货币市场基金，并于周日卖出，这是其与这些金融机构合作试点项目的一部分。这样一来，优步得以获得额外的1.5天收益，而不是像如今企业通常的做法那样，在周五、传统银行和市场休市之前就卖出投资。
Using HSBC tokenized deposits — essentially bank funds represented by digital tokens on a blockchain —- Uber recently purchased a Franklin Templeton tokenized money market fund on a Thursday, and then sold it on Sunday as part of a pilot program with the financial institutions. That way, it was able to capture an extra 1.5 days of yield instead of selling its investment on Friday, before traditional banks and markets closed, as companies typically do today.
总部位于伦敦的汇丰控股有限公司与富兰克林邓普顿、Tradeweb Markets和Fireblocks合作开展了该项目。Canton Network被用于流动性和结算。
HSBC Holdings Plc, the London-based bank, collaborated on the project with Franklin Templeton, Tradeweb Markets and Fireblocks. The Canton Network was used for liquidity and settlement.
许多公司正在寻找新方法，以提高其公司持有资产的财资收益率，同时减少对昂贵的透支便利和信贷额度的依赖。
Many corporations are looking for new ways to increase treasury yields on their corporate holdings while reducing reliance on expensive overdraft facilities and credit lines.
“企业司库持有大量在支付间歇闲置的现金，此前一直没有好方法能在不放弃对这些现金的支配权的情况下将其利用起来。”Fireblocks首席执行官迈克尔·沙乌洛夫说。“我们相信，许多大型企业和跨国公司将使用这一模式，为原本闲置的现金赚取额外利息，我预计未来18个月内将有数百家企业开始使用这一模式。”
“Corporate treasurers hold enormous amounts of cash that sits idle between payments, and until now there hasn’t been a good way to put it to work without giving up access to it,” said Michael Shaulov, the chief executive officer of Fireblocks. “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.“The pilot is just the latest of many as Wall Street firms experiment with digital versions of securities, cash and bonds. In another recent test, nearly 40 firms traded stocks and Treasuries, posted collateral and met margin calls. Nearly $40 billion in assets has been tokenized to date, according to RWA.xyz, a drop in the bucket compared with traditional financial markets.
这一试点项目只是华尔街公司试验证券、现金和债券数字版本的众多案例中的最新一例。在最近另一次测试中，近40家公司交易股票和美国国债，提供抵押品并满足追加保证金要求。根据RWA.xyz的数据，迄今已有近400亿美元资产被代币化，但与传统金融市场相比，这只是沧海一粟。
This is not Uber’s first foray into blockchain technology. The company was part of the ill-fated Diem stablecoin initiative.
这并非优步首次涉足区块链技术。该公司曾参与命运多舛的Diem稳定币计划。优步还曾考虑使用由美元等法定货币支持的稳定币进行支付。
Uber has also mulled using stablecoins — backed by fiat currencies like the dollar — for payments. “With the pilot we were able to demonstrate technical readiness,” Manish Kohli, global head of payments at HSBC, said in an interview.
汇丰全球支付主管马尼什·科利在接受采访时表示：“通过这次试点，我们得以证明技术已经准备就绪。这项技术如今已可供其他客户部署和扩展。我们能够在美国向他们提供这一能力。随着时间推移，我们计划在富兰克林邓普顿之外，扩大可选投资产品的数量。”
“That is now available for deployment and expansion with other customers today. 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.”