Move over, bitcoin. GE researching blockchain technology

Engineers at General Electric are researching the same technology that is used to power bitcoin and other cryptocurrency.

Engineers at GE Global Research are inventing ways to use blockchain, which is a global digital ledger that is used to keep a chronological record of virtual transactions. Any asset, "whether it's bitcoin or bananas, can have its own blockchain that records information about transactions that have taken place," GE officials said on its website.

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“Blockchain is this type of technology that comes in waves. It will happen, absolutely, whether we are there to take advantage of it or not,” said Ben Beckman, lead scientist of the Complex Systems Engineering Lab at GE Global Research.

Engineers at GE Global Research are looking for ways to use blockchain to connect consumers and producers of electricity with batteries supplied by wind and solar farms.

» MUST-READ BUSINESS NEWS: Currency of the future? Some argue it’s bitcoin

“Through blockchain, we think there’s an opportunity to create a marketplace where we can connect these participants,” said John Carbone, a principal engineer at GE Global Research. “We try to pull them all together in a way that increases the reliability and access to renewable electricity.”

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