BLOCKCHAIN stocks listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen are missing out on the cryptocurrency mania that has pushed their global peers to record highs.

A basket of seven key Chinese A-share stocks with ties to the blockchain technology underpinning cryptocurrencies, including Shenzhen Forms Syntron Information Co., Shenzhen Ysstech Info-Tech Co. and Brilliance Technology Co., has fallen more than 10 percent so far this year. That compares with a more than 30 percent rise in an Elwood Asset Management index tracking global blockchain-linked shares.

“Not every company will stand out in the blockchain sector,” said Reo Liao, a market analyst with IG Australia. “The recent surge in Bitcoin price may suggest that digital currency and digital asset trading platform concepts will be the ones that attract all investors. That’s why we see all related stocks climb these days.”

Global crypto stocks have surged as Bitcoin’s value more than quadrupled over the past year, with the Elwood index tracking blockchain-linked shares hitting an all-time high this month. Bitcoin rose as high as US$58,350 Sunday before retreating to about US$56,200 as of 2:30 p.m. in Tokyo yesterday. The token has roughly tripled in the past three months.

But after successive crackdowns on the industry, including a ban on transactions between fiat and cryptocurrencies in 2017, China lacks a cohort of local stocks tied to digital coin exchanges and trading platforms.

Even domestic firms which have worked with Chinese regulators, such as Huobi Group, are listed in Hong Kong, while some of the biggest China-based miners have chosen a U.S. listing. Canaan Inc. has more than doubled over the last 12 months, and Ebang International Holdings Inc. has jumped over 30 percent since its mid-2020 listing.

Chinese firms like Syntron and Ysstech are working elsewhere in the crypto field, developing blockchain technology for various business applications, Liao said. Others work in security tools and banking machines.

“These companies have lots of diversification in other areas,” he said. The stocks that have rallied “have high focus on digital currencies. They are more sensitive to the Bitcoin price movement.” (SD-Agencies)