The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is weighing approval for select companies in the United Kingdom that use the blockchain technology.

UK’s financial regulatory body told Financial Times that there is a number of groups that are engaged in the development of blockchain-based consumer-facing products, which are already in the preapproval stage.

Blockchain is the underlying technology that supports popular digital currency bitcoin. It makes use of cryptography to create a distributed ledger system to hold and spend money in a more open, transparent and flexible manner compared to the traditional bank or credit card companies.

“We do think [blockchain] has got some potentially interesting applications and we are talking to firms thinking about how to apply that to financial services and how it could benefit consumers or indeed make the business of compliance easier,” said Chris Woolard, the FCA’s director of strategy and competition, according to the news outlet. “There may be areas where we might want to encourage it a bit.”