Walmart press release hoax causes Litecoin to spike 34%

A fake Walmart press release stating that the retail chain would begin accepting Litecoin caused the cryptocurrency to jump by almost 35% this morning.

The fake Walmart press release [archive] was released this morning at 9:30 AM and included made-up quotes from Walmart's CEO Doug McMillon and Litecoin creator Charlie Lee about the partnership.

"The momentum and excitement around the use of cryptocurrency are undeniable, and we are poised to make online shopping easy for our customers. As a leading eCommerce store, we are committed to bringing innovations to the online shopping experience. By integrating Litecoin, we will enable shoppers to experience a very smooth checkout experience with near instant transaction confirmation, and near-zero fees regardless of where in the world they are," claimed the fake quote from Doug McMillon, Walmart's CEO.

As the press release was published on GlobeNewswire, other partners, including Yahoo, syndicated it, giving it much wider attention.

As the news quickly spread on Twitter and major publishers, such as the now-withdrawn story from Reuters [archive], the price of Litecoin spiked almost 35%, from $175 to $237.

Litecoin price over the past 24 hours
Source: coinbase.com

After users spotted that the email address for the media contact used wal-mart.com, a domain registered last month on Namecheap and not linked to Walmart, it quickly became apparent that it was an elaborate hoax.

https://t.co/Tn2N7HdfhF (the email domain used in the press release) was registered last month and doesn't go to any official website. pic.twitter.com/ADNGpmOCFD

Soon after, CNBC reported that Walmart confirmed that the press release was fake.

This caused the price of Litecoin to plummet back to close its original value, with it now trading at ~$178.