Wattcoin Labs, a startup out of University of Wisconsin Madison and Illinois Institute of Technology, aims to be the payment platform that drives renewable energy consumption and transfer.

Using blockchain technology, they've created a digital currency where people can transact energy without a central bank, similar to Bitcoin. Their goal is to improve access to energy for people who aren't on the grid, create rewards for energy efficiency, and allow users to trade carbon and carbon value at a microscale.

"In ways that Bitcoin changed financial transactions, Wattcoin will change energy transactions," said Wattcoin founder Ben Johanns, a sophomore at UW-Madison and a Naperville native. "It is the beginning of the ‘Energy Internet.’"