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How a fake Walmart news post boosted cryptocurrencies
A fake Walmart news release claiming the retail giant would soon accept cryptocurrency has send the digital coin sector into a frenzy
Cryptocurrency Litecoin saw a sudden surge on Monday over the press release, which turned out to be fake.
The release, published through a legitimate press channel, claimed that Walmart would accept the currency through all of the company’s digital stores.
Walmart later told US media outlets the announcement was “inauthentic”
By the time Walmart confirmed that the news release was fake, several major news websites and press agencies had spread the supposed news.
The announcement made it on to Globe Newswire, a service widely used to distribute press material from companies.
The faked release has since been deleted, and did not appear on Walmart’s own website.
A tweet from a verified Litecoin Twitter account linking to the release has also been deleted.
Hours later, the Litecoin Foundation tweeted to confirm that the organisation had no such partnership:
