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.
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.
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.