Litecoin creator Charlie Lee clarifies that the Litecoin Foundation has nothing to do with the fake news of Walmart integration spread on Monday.
On Monday, September 13, the rumor of Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT) integrating Litecoin (LTC) payments induced strong volatility in the crypto space. Some of the most credible media houses like Reuters published the news after a press release from GlobeNewswire.
Thus, in a matter of an hour, the LTC price surged 35% to $230 and lost all the gains. This happened as Walmart confirmed that it was fake news and the retail giant has no plans of accepting Litecoin payments.
“Walmart had no knowledge of the press release issued by GlobeNewswire, and it is incorrect. Walmart has no relationship with Litecoin,” the retail giant said.
The Litecoin (LTC) and Walmart fiasco also induced volatility in the broader crypto market. A large number of altcoins witnessed some selling pressure along with Bitcoin going closer to $44,000. However, as of press time, the broader market has recovered gaining nearly 4%. The overall cryptocurrency market cap has now reached close to $2.10 trillion.
As of press time, Litecoin is trading 3.51% up at a price of $179 and a market cap of $12 billion.
Litecoin (LTC) Creator Speaking about News on Partnership with Walmart
Litecoin Foundation first shared the news on its official Twitter handle. However, they later deleted it after knowing that it was fake news.
"Definitely not anyone on our end" is responsible. Litecoin Founder Charlie Lee responds to fake press release that falsely claimed Walmart would start accepting the cryptocurrency. He speaks to @emilychangtv https://t.co/l7cqKivlg4 pic.twitter.com/hMZ0SG0m2w
— Bloomberg TV (@BloombergTV) September 14, 2021
Speaking to Bloomberg TV earlier today, Litecoin creator Charlie Lee stated that they “try their best to not tweet fake news and this time we really screwed up”. He further added:
“I deny that it has anything to do with us and we’ll try our best to figure out who did it — and we will stop fake news from spreading.”
Walmart and GlobeNewswire are both investigating Monday’s announcement. Lee said that he was himself surprised when he came to know about it. Explaining the moment, he added:
“This morning I woke up and found out that Walmart is accepting Litecoin, and I was like, ‘Wow that’s awesome,’ – and it turned out to be fake. We didn’t have a partnership,” he said, adding that anyone can start accepting Litecoin without having to talk with the organization first.
The Litecoin creator further noted that there’s not much that Litecoin Foundation can do about random actors releasing fake news. However, he added that Litecoin (LTC) has been used across several merchant locations, although it’s not as popular as Bitcoin (BTC).
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