Walmart Says Cryptocurrency Payment News Is Fake

(RTTNews) - Retail giant Walmart Inc. (WMT) on Monday confirmed that it isn't accepting cryptocurrency payments.

According to Walmart, an earlier press release that said the company will allow its customers to make payments with cryptocurrencies was fake. GlobeNewswire, a press release distributor, had released the fake release earlier on Monday. GlobeNewswire issued a notice across its service confirming that journalists and other readers should disregard the news release.

Walmart spokesman Randy Hargrove said the company has been in touch with the newswire company to investigate how the false press release got posted.

The fake news had sent the value of Litecoin up nearly 30% to about $225 on Monday morning, according to CoinDesk. However, it tumbled to $180.29 later.

The fake news had announced that Walmart had reached a major partnership with Litecoin. All eCommerce stores will have implemented a "Pay with Litecoin Option" starting October 1.

"Walmart has long been one of the earliest adopters of blockchain technologies, starting as early as 2016 to trial the digital ledger for improvements in its supply chain. Now, with this partnership, Walmart will offer their shoppers to use Litecoin to benefit from the features of the cryptocurrency," the statement said.