Bitcoin's main technology opens up opportunities to profit from these 14 stocks, HSBC says

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It's quite easy to buy bitcoin. But it's not as straightforward to directly profit from blockchain, the technology that drives the cryptocurrency.

Analysts at HSBC have identified a handful of stocks mostly in the US, Japan, and China that let investors do just that.

Blockchain is basically a decentralized system that ensures everyone has the same information about payments at the same time. It's an obsession in corners of Wall Street, and central banks from China to Canada have discussed how it could be used.

"Cash usage is falling, accounting for c. 85% of global transactions today, and this is set to accelerate thanks to technology, benefitting customers (convenience), businesses (security) and governments (tax evasion)," HSBC's equity strategists wrote in a recent note.

"Blockchain is essentially a cashless payment solution, and those companies involved in cashless hardware, software and platform could therefore be set to benefit from a blockchain world."

The way HSBC screened for the stocks is dead simple: The analysts selected companies in the MSCI's All Country World Index whose business descriptions had any of the following terms: "mobile payment," "electronic money," "internet finance," and "mobile commerce."

HSBC's basket of stocks has gained 119.9% over the past five years, while the MSCI ACWI has risen 51%.

Here's the list: