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By Shubhangi Mathur, 5:55 PM ET
A press release announced Walmart Inc’s partnership with cryptocurrency litecoin is fake thi Monday.
Price of the cryptocurrency jumped about 30% after release of the fake press release but, after the clarification, it quickly pared gains and was only up by 4%.
Walmart said it is looking into the release of the fake press release, which was published by press release distributor GlobeNewswire.
A company spokesperson said, Walmart had no knowledge of the press release issued by GlobeNewswire and there is no truth to it. Walmart has no relationship with Litecoin, reported Reuters.
The Litecoin Foundation—a non-profit organization run by Litecoin creator Charlie Lee—also said on Twitter that it had no information of the press release.
According to the false press release, Walmart said it would allow customers to pay with litecoin at its online stores. Later on Monday, GlobeNewswire published a notice to “disregard” the press release.
Shares of Walmart were trading down 0.8% on Monday, though they opened higher for the day.
Similarly, Bitcoin prices also plunged after briefly surging amid the announcement.