Litecoin surges, then plummets after fake press release says Walmart will partner with the coin for payments

• Litecoin spiked and then sharply fell Monday morning after a fake press release said that Walmart is partnering with the coin for payments.
• The cryptocurrency rose as much as 25% before reversing after GlobalNewsWire released a statement about the partnership.
• Walmart told CNBC the press release is fake.

Litecoin spiked and then sharply fell Monday morning after a fake press release said that Walmart is partnering with the coin for payments.

In less than an hour on Monday morning, the coin spiked 25% to a peak of $231 and then sharply tumbled to $179.

The coin soared immediately after GlobalNewsWire published a press release saying that Walmart has announced a "major partnership with Litecoin."

"Walmart will offer their shoppers to use Litecoin to benefit from the features of the cryptocurrency," read the press release.

Shortly after, users on Twitter began to doubt the press release's validity, pointing out that the official litecoin account retweeted the press release, and then deleted it. Walmart also did not publish the release on its website.

Litecoin then tumbled after a Walmart spokesperson told CNBC that the press release was fake.

The cryptocurrency traded around $180 as of 10:35 am ET Monday.

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