The crypto’s price soared 35% thanks to a fake press release by Walmart claiming that it would accept Litecoin (LTC). LTC’s value plummeted 20% after Intrado, a US-based telecom company, denied the news.
According to the press release, the retail giant had partnered with Litecoin Foundation in order to accept payments from the 14 top cryptos by market capital. As the press release text was not in line with the standard published by US-listed companies, suspicions began to rise. The announcement was not made via Walmart’s official channels and the email that was quoted had a domain the retail company didn’t own.
The tweet by the Litecoin Foundation stated that “The Litecoin Foundation had not entered into a partnership agreement with Walmart.” Fake news quickly spread throughout mainstream media. The Litecoin Foundation retweeted this announcement and it was removed shortly after Walmart discredited it. A fake news release that claimed Walmart had announced a partnership between Litecoin and Walmart (Sept. 13) was issued. GlobeNewswire’s press release was incorrect and Walmart did not know about it. Walmart does not have any relationship with Litecoin,” stated the US multinational retail company in a statement.
$25M Liquidated After the News
GlobalNewswire also published a notice requesting journalists to ignore the press release that was distributed via their platform. LTC has fallen by more than -2.4% since press time. It is currently back at $178.42. The US Securities and Exchange Commission has not yet commented on the matter, as the crypto community argues that such a move could have been a ‘pump and dump’.
Bybt, a cryptocurrency data platform, reported that the price action shake of Litecoin caused over $25 million in liquidations in both short and long positions.
