Bitcoin's blockchain technology just got a big endorsement from the World Economic Forum

Bitcoin may not change the world on its own, but the technology that runs the virtual currency very well could.

That's what the World Economic Forum determined in a report released Friday. The group, best known for its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, includes various members of the global financial elite. A wide range of banking, consulting and financial executives from Deloitte, JP Morgan Chase, Deutsche Bank, Barclays and other firms contributed to the yearlong project.

"Our findings suggest this technology has the potential to 'live-up to the hype' and reshape financial services, but requires careful collaboration with other emerging technologies, regulators, incumbents and additional stakeholders to be successful," the report said.

The crowdsourced blockchain technology that powers bitcoin could create a new financial services infrastructure for everything from payment systems to trade finance.

Blockchain, also known as distributed ledger technology, is the secure database that records all bitcoin transactions and allows them to occur. While it's secure, it doesn't need to be centrally controlled. That's the main innovation that the World Economic Forum thinks could change financial services worldwide.

The developments in financial services would all be behind the scenes, invisible to consumers. But these advances have the potential to make financial services faster and cheaper.

Over the past three years, $1.4 billion has been invested in blockchain technology, the report said. It also projected that 80 percent of banks would start blockchain products by 2017.

This report, the New York Times said, is a big step toward legitimizing the technology behind bitcoin in the financial mainstream.