Cryptocurrency Litecoin surged 20 percent on Monday after a fake press release claimed that the Walmart will start accepting Litecoin payments.
The press release published on GlobeNewswire did not say data for the Securities and Exchange Commission filing, which would be expected since Walmart is publicly traded.
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 was used to issue the fake press release, we immediately retracted 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." .
Enough newsgraphics agencies republished the press release and a short time later the price of Litecoin rose, along with those of other cryptocurrencies, before quickly falling back to previous levels.
It is currently unclear who may be behind the fake press release, but a millionfaceWalmart confirmed to CNBC that the announcement was false.
