If you’re wondering why the price of the cryptocurrency Litecoin briefly exploded today and saw over 30-percent gains, only to tumble back to normal levels, it’s all thanks to an elaborate hoax. A false press release circulated early Monday claiming Walmart was adopting Litecoin.
To be clear. No, Walmart is not accepting Litecoin as a payment method. This was fake news. To make matters worse, the press release got shared by the official Litecoin Twitter account, Reuters, and several other outlets, which caused even more chaos and the price to skyrocket.
The Litecoin Foundation has not entered into a partnership with Walmart.
— Litecoin Foundation (@LTCFoundation) September 13, 2021
Markets and Litecoin users reacted by sending the price of Litecoin from $175 to $237 in a matter of minutes before it plummeted back to regular pricing. Now, the crypto is currently trading near pre-hoax announcement levels, roughly $177.65 at press time.
The release was never listed on Walmart’s official website and was quickly removed from the GlobeNewswire website. It’s unclear at this time who may be responsible for the hoax announcement, but users all over the internet are already calling this a pump-n-dump scheme.
Unfortunately, events like this will only call for further regulation in a segment already under scrutiny.
via The Verge
