BLOCKCHAIN-RELATED companies listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen extended their bullish run Friday, as punters brushed aside concerns raised by regulators about the rationality of stock price surges last week.

Blockchain mania continued to propel the shares of a dozen companies which recently disclosed their involvement in cryptocurrency technology, even though some admitted their investments in the technology were still at an early stage.

A growing number of firms, ranging from packaging firms to gaming companies, have publicly linked their businesses with blockchain to capitalize on rapidly growing investor interest globally for the technology, the backbone of bitcoin and other digital currencies.

Regulators are taking unprecedented steps to contain financial risks — The government has banned initial coin offerings, shut down local cryptocurrency trading exchanges and limited bitcoin mining — but speculators are not deterred.

Shares of Cashway Technology Co. soared for the second day Friday, even after it clarified that it had merely hired two young graduates majoring in encryption algorithm.

Client Service International Inc. jumped the maximum 10 percent for the third straight day, although the software maker flagged risks to investors, saying it was still “exploring” blockchain technology.

Punters also pushed up other blockchain concept stocks such as Xiamen Anne, Brilliance Technology and Shenzhen Zqgame.

“It takes only five minutes to think of an idea that has something to do with blockchain. But it’s a totally different story to build a business model around it that makes money,” said retail investor Wu Beicheng, adding he identified only one China-listed company, Hundsun Technologies, as a reasonable bet.

Highlighting how some companies are tapping into the speculative interest, the Shanghai Stock Exchange questioned Shanghai U9 Game Co. on Thursday, asking whether it used the blockchain concept to help push up its flagging share price. The company has a large proportion of shares pledged for loans.

Robin Zhang, compliance manager at asset manager Soochow Securities CSSD (Singapore), put China’s blockchain mania in the backdrop of a global setting, where companies including Eastman Kodak have attracted investor fever due to their applications of the technology. (SD-Agencies)