The price of litecoin jumped on Monday morning after a news release. Saying that Walmart would accept cryptocurrency for online transactions.
It featured quotes from Walmart CEO Doug McMillon and litecoin developer Charlie Lee and featured their logos.
It featured words ascribed to Walmart CEO Doug McMillon and litecoin developer Charlie Lee and tops with Walmart and litecoin logos.
According to Bloomberg statistics, the price of Litecoin increased by 32.8 percent to $235.88. Within 30 minutes, it began to decline. At lunchtime on Monday, it was trading at $178.21, up less than 1%.
The GlobeNewswire website swiftly removed the press release, warning that “journalists and other readers should reject” it. In a statement released Monday afternoon, the firm said that the unlawful press release is from a fake user account.
The company upgrades authentication processes to avoid a repetition
“This never happened before,” GlobeNewswire, whose parent company is Intrado, said. The organization improves authentication methods to avoid a repeat of the incident.
A comprehensive investigation, including any criminal activity relating to this circumstance, will request and enable by GlobeNewswire.
The phony announcement attempted to stoke interest in cryptocurrency as a possible mode of exchange in the future. Only a few businesses and consumer brands, notably Overstock.com, have accepted bitcoin payments. Tesla, the electric car company, once stated that it would take bitcoin before withdrawing in May due to environmental concerns.
Reuters and CNBC are among the first to report the occurrence before changing or retracting their stories. @Litecoin, a Twitter account with 761,000 followers, erased an early post linking to the phony news release.
Wall Street has been persuaded before by fake news releases. The US Securities and Exchange Commission sued a Bulgarian trader in 2015. Alleging that he made a false acquisition proposal for cosmetics company Avon.
The dealer sold his shares at inflated prices before the near 20% increase in Avon shares evaporated, according to the SEC.
Walmart claimed it was the target of a fake press release that falsely touted a relationship with litecoin on Monday afternoon.
“Walmart had no knowledge of Globe Newswire’s press statement, which was false. “And it has no affiliation with litecoin,” the business stated, referring all further inquiries to Globe Newswire.
The Litecoin Foundation, a cryptocurrency supporter non-profit, called a Walmart deal “false news.” On Twitter, the Litecoin account had the original Reuters article before it was removed because of “overexcitement.” The SEC and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission declined to comment.
