MoneyGram and Ripple testing bank transfers of the XRP cryptocurrency. Fortune Staff Writer Jeff John Roberts explains why this partnership is so significant.
"Unlike Bitcoin or Ethereum, it (Ripple) is centrally controlled," explains Roberts. "This is Ripple's moment of truth because people are speculating on XRP." With transaction fees so high for Bitcoin, some investors are seeing Ripple as a good alternative.
"Ripple is at the forefront of blockchain technology and we look forward to piloting xRapid," MoneyGram CEO Alex Holmes said Thursday. In the release announcing this partnership, both Ripple and MoneyGram promoted the efficiency and speed of this digital currency.
Amazon has confirmed that its voice assistant service Alexa and cloud computing division Amazon Web Services (AWS) are back in business after a short outage over the weekend.
Norwegian battery startup Freyr is planning its next factory in an Atlanta suburb because a new U.S. clean energy law offers generous tax credits for local production.