UPDATE 2:36 p.m. UTC: Litecoin has plunged as Walmart officially confirms that the press release is fake.
Easy come, easy go.
The price of Litecoin tanked on speculation that the press release about Walmart accepting the cryptocurrency starting from October is actually fake.
The news was posted by the official Twitter account of Litecoin and reported by numerous media outlets, including Reuters.
Even @litecoin doesn't know if they are partnered with Walmart and deletes this tweet after 10 minutes; pic.twitter.com/F16IZNkK3T
— Fatih $=1/∞ (@FatihSK87) September 13, 2021
However, it appears that the announcement was a hoax posted by another wire account of the same name that is not associated with the retail giant.
1) it's not in their newsroom https://t.co/dtcvVCLrDS
2) the wire account for "Walmart Inc" hasn’t posted anything else https://t.co/SLuxs5yO9X
3) the contact email is @ https://t.co/broFIRjHvB, which is owned by a squatter (h/t @tomhschmidt)— Neeraj K. Agrawal (@NeerajKA) September 13, 2021Morning Crypto Report: Fighting XRP Is Bearish: Solana Founder, Shiba Inu (SHIB) Nears Another 0, Bitcoin Erases Bears With 17,128% Liquidation ImbalanceSEC’s Lawsuit Against Ripple Turns 5: How It HappenedCrypto Market Prediction: Shiba Inu (SHIB) Back in 2023, XRP Can Take $2 Back Already, Is Bitcoin (BTC) Reversal Guaranteed?Critical Shiba Inu Price Level Revealed to Bulls, Ripple CEO Celebrates XRP ETF Milestone, DOGE Price Might Add Zero, Solana Eyes Golden Cross – Top Weekly Crypto News
The Litecoin account also proceeded to delete the original tweet about the partnership.
The fact that the Litecoin Foundation itself appears to be confused about its own partnership makes the whole story even more baffling.
The fake press release, which was picked up by the mainstream media, helped to fuel the narrative about enhancing cryptocurrency regulations.
According to Bybt data, $202.81 million worth of cryptocurrencies has been liquidated over the past hour.
Dan Burgin
Vladislav Sopov
U.Today Editorial Team