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 details of the Capital Commission's filingmarket, 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, 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 warning".
The company has already implemented “enhanced control steps ID cards to prevent this single incident in the future," Pleiss added, adding that GlobeNewswire is cooperating with authorities on a "full investigation of any criminal activity related to this matter."
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.
