China: WeChat Searches for ‘Blockchain’ and A-Share Stocks Skyrocket

Stocks in Chinese blockchain A-share firms maxed out to their 10% daily limit after an endorsement of the technology from the highest echelons of power.

The stock market rally was reported on Oct. 28 by the Global Times, an English-language newspaper within the CPC-owned People’s Daily Group.

Last week, President Xi Jinping had called for the country to accelerate its adoption of blockchain technologies to drive innovation and industrial transformation.

Today, the head of the technology department at the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) has urged banks to ramp up their application of blockchain for digital finance, Reuters reported on Oct. 28.

Interest in Bitcoin, blockchain

Bitcoin (BTC) has soared by close to 16% price on the week and is trading above $9,400 by press time. 

On Oct. 26, the cryptocurrency saw its highest intraday gain since 2011, gaining 42% to trade AT $10,500.

An explosion of interest in Bitcoin and blockchain is evident in search data on WeChat, with investors correlating the top coin’s price hike with this surge in popular interest:

WeChat searches (10/23/19):

- 区块链 (Blockchain): 777K

- 比特币 (Bitcoin): 572K

WeChat searches (10/25/19):

- 区块链 (Blockchain): 9.2MM

- 比特币 (Bitcoin): 1.3MM 

WeChat search data 23-25 Oct. 2019. Source: Cole Kennelly

Dovey Wan, co-founder of crypto investment holding firm Primitive Ventures, tweeted a screenshot of the stock market boom in the domestic blockchain sector, noting that “as expected, almost ALL (over 100) blockchain-related Chinese A-shares hit the daily upper limit (10% intraday gain)”:

Blockchain firm A-shares on the Chinese stock market. Source: Dovey Wan

A blockchain arms race

Meanwhile, on global markets, Chinese firms such as the Shenzhen Xunlei Networking Technologies Co. soared 107.76% to $4.82 — its highest daily rise since its listing on Nasdaq in 2014, according to the Global Times.

Today, Oct. 28, Wan has also voiced her concern following reported news that:

“China Merchant Bank just announced invested in BitPie, the Bitcoin wallet with longest history and most users back in China ... Tho it's a non-custodial wallet there can be a non-zero chance .... [redacted]”

Blockchain platform Tron (TRX), formerly under intense scrutiny from Beijing, has gained almost 25% on the TRX/USD charts over the 24 hours to press time.

Readers might recall that Mark Zuckerberg had last week attempted to fuel lawmakers’ concerns about a prospective cryptocurrency and fintech arms race between the United States and China, in a bid to seal their approval for the development of Facebook’s Libra stablecoin.