Litecoin’s price surged Monday morning after a false Walmart press release claimed that it would allow online shoppers to pay with cryptocurrency.
It adorned with the Walmart and Litecoin logos and contained statements attributed to Walmart CEO Doug McMillon and Litecoin creator Charlie Lee.
According to Bloomberg, the price of Litecoin rose 32.8% to $235.88. It started to retreat after 30 minutes and was trading at less than 1% on Monday afternoon at $178.21. The company said the discovery took place this morning that it used fraudulent user accounts to issue illegal press releases on Monday afternoon.
The Fake Press Release
The fake release seems to have fueled the enthusiasm that cryptocurrencies could one day be accepted as a medium of exchange. Electric carmaker Tesla says it will accept Bitcoin before phasing it out in May in response to environmental concerns.
News outlets, including Reuters and CNBC, first reported the announcement before releasing the update or withdrawing the original article. Fake news broadcasts have affected Wall Street in the past.
In 2015, the US Securities and Exchange Commission sued a Bulgarian merchant who submitted a hypothetical takeover bid for cosmetic manufacturer Avon. Before Avon’s stock rose nearly 20%, the trader was able to sell his stock at an artificially inflated price.
Walmart was not aware of the press release of GlobeNewswire, which is not true. Walmart has nothing to do with Litecoin, the company said, directing all inquiries to GlobeNewswire. He shared an early Reuters story on his Litecoin Twitter account before it disappeared after a member of the social media team admitted it was too impatient.
Mining Litecoin
Instead of regulations by a central bank and out of print at typesetting and printing bureaus, Litecoins’ creation was through a complex cryptocurrency process through mining. Which consists of processing a list of Litecoin transactions.
Unlike traditional currencies, the number of Litecoins is fixed. There are currently no more than 84 million Litecoins in circulation. In other words, it enters into the last Litecoin transaction ledger in the world.
Mining cryptocurrencies at a rate acceptable to miners requires tremendous computing power thanks to special equipment. Litecoin mining can use a personal computer, which sets it apart from most other cryptocurrencies.
However, the more power a miner has, the more likely it is to bring something of value to the miner.
Any currency (including the US dollar) is worth as much as society thinks it is. When the Federal Reserve (FRS) circulates too much paper money, the value of the dollar plummets. This phenomenon transcends money.
Any product or service becomes simpler and cheaper as it depreciates.
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