The Litecoin cryptocurrency rose 20 percent on Monday after a fake press release claiming that Walmart would start accepting Litecoin payments.
The press release published on GlobeNewswire did not mention data on the OTC Commission's deposit, which would have been expected since Walmart is in public trading.
Meanwhile, Walmart's official press releases did not mention the incident and the company usually uses Business Wire to distribute its news.
Dave Pleiss, vice president, investor and public relations manager of GlobeNewswire, said in an email to The Verge that this has never happened to the company before.
"When GlobeNewswire learned this morning that a malicious user account had been used to issue the fake press release, we immediately withdrew it and issued a warning."
The company has already implemented "enhanced authentication steps to prevent this individual incident in the future," Pleiss added, adding that GlobeNewswire is working with authorities for a "full investigation into any criminal activity related to this issue." .
Several news agencies republished the press release and a short time later the price of Litecoin rose, along with those of other cryptocurrencies, before falling quickly to previous levels.
It is unknown at this time what he will do after leaving the post.
George is still wondering what he is doing here….
