The crypto market experienced sharp volatility last night. Many foreign media reported that American retailer Wal-Mart would add Litecoin (LTC) as a payment method. Affected by this news, LTC prices began to soar. However, Wal-Mart subsequently denied the news. The price of LTC plummeted and the market collapsed. In just a few minutes, the market value of more than 100 billion US dollars was evaporated.
Bloomberg, CNBC, Reuters, Decrypt and many other internal and external media reported yesterday that as part of its cooperation with the Litecoin Foundation, Walmart plans to provide customers with "Litecoin payment options" starting on October 1.
It is reported that overseas media reports are derived from a press release issued by Globenewswire. The press release stated that Wal-Mart chose to use LTC for payment because of its "cheaper and faster" features and no centralization issues. After the news appeared in the newspaper, the Litecoin Foundation also retweeted the news, so the credibility began to rise.
However, about an hour after the initial report came to light, a Wal-Mart spokesperson confirmed to CNBC that the press release was "untrue." The official Litecoin Twitter also deleted the tweet after retweeting the news.
The data shows that after the media reported the fake news, the price of LTC immediately soared by more than 35% and then plummeted, and the total contract liquidation volume of the entire network rose sharply.
Wal-Mart has a market value of more than US$406 billion and has previously hinted that it will study cryptocurrencies. Last month, the company released a list of positions for experts who can formulate a digital currency strategy and product roadmap, but did not specifically mention the way it will introduce encrypted payments. However, Wal-Mart is said to have used blockchain technology for supply chain management, customer markets and smart appliances.
According to the blockchain media Deep Wave TechFlow, the behind-the-scenes man used the loopholes of the Global Telecommunications Agency’s lack of rigorous identity verification to issue a PR press release, and the media did not verify with Wal-Mart and then quoted the press release for reporting, resulting in a large-scale fake news. Dissemination, retweets of Litecoin's official tweets without confirmation also contribute to fake news.
In the traditional capital market, the use of false or uncertain material information to gain profits will be severely punished by the law. However, since the crypto market does not have specific and clear laws and regulations, the people behind the use of fake news to manipulate the market for profit. I'm afraid it's unscathed.
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