News of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s comments supporting the development of blockchain technology sent Bitcoin’s price skyrocketing early last week. But Xi’s comments didn’t just affect the price of Bitcoin. They made a big splash in China’s A-shares and investment markets, too.
A-shares are stocks listed on one of mainland China’s two stock exchanges, the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE). These stocks are valued in renminbi, China’s national currency, and foreign investment access to them is limited, so they can be a good barometer for how China’s domestic investors are feeling.
Xi’s comments, in which he said that blockchain would play “an important role in the next round of technological innovation and industrial transformation,” had a clear impact on the domestic stock market. On Monday October 28, the first full day of trading following the news, blockchain-related A-shares stocks rose 8.63%. A-shares companies such as Ji Hong Co., Ltd. and Jin Gu Co., Ltd. rushed to publicize their own investments in blockchain, and investors were clearly interested in finding blockchain-linked stocks as well.
In the days that followed, blockchain stocks saw a small part of those gains reversed. But the overall impact was significant enough that the Shanghai Composite Index itself gained 0.85% on Monday (although it fell again on Tuesday and Wednesday).
To get a better picture, LongHash analyzed data from SSE’s e-interview platform and SZSE’s Easy IR platform, two interactive platforms that allow investors to interact with listed companies. Specifically, we gathered data from October 25 at 6:16 PM China time, when news of Xi’s comments was first reported, through October 29 and 3:00 PM.
On SSE’s e-interview platform, we found a total of 565 question-and-answer exchanges during this time, of which 136 (24%) were related to blockchain. That reflects a massive increase in blockchain interest; over a similar five-day prior to Xi’s announcement when 506 total questions were asked, just eight were related to blockchain. Blockchain-related questions were directed at 65 different companies, and 16 of them (24%) were able to answer that they were already involved in the blockchain industry in some way.
SZSE’s Easy IR platform had a total of 2,330 questions and answers, of which 792 (34%) were related to blockchain. A total of 326 companies were asked blockchain questions, and of those, 93 (28%) answered that they were already involved in blockchain technology.
Perhaps most interesting: The companies that were asked about blockchain but didn’t have any current blockchain projects or investments all expressed a willingness to explore blockchain technology. China’s tech firms, it seems clear, will be happy to get involved with blockchain development if and when the government comes calling.
