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, GlobeNewswire's vice president, investor and public relations officer, said in an email post officetold 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 prenotice".
The company has already implemented “enhanced control steps identity to prevent this single incident in the future," Pleiss added, and reported that GlobeNewswire is working with authorities on a "full investigation into any criminal activity related to this matter."
Several news agencies republished the press release and a little while later the price of Litecoin rose, along with those of other cryptocurrencies, before quickly falling back to previous levels.
It is unknown at this time what he will do after leaving the post.
