Litecoin has recently been in the midst of recent controversy. On Monday, news broke that retail giant Walmart had partnered with Litecoin to begin accepting payments with the cryptocurrency. Major media outlets shared the official-looking press release of GlobeNewswire and Reuters. And most importantly, it was shared by Litecoin’s official Twitter account.
Less than an hour after the news, it was confirmed that there had been no association. In the end, it looked like a scheme of bombs and dumps. Affecting the price of Litecoin, which had risen to 35% in a single hour after the rise in press releases. Reuters has since withdrawn its press release and replaced it with a withdrawal confirming that the news from the association had been false.
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Charlie Lee, the creator of Litecoin, was on Bloomberg News to talk about the deception and involvement of Litecoin. Lee clarified that the press release did not come from the Litecoin Foundation. Nor was the deception perpetrated by anyone associated with the foundation. The founder denied that his foundation had anything to do with the release and would work to expose the parts behind it. “Almost anyone, if they want the price to pump up, can post this fake news,” Lee added.
Lee explained that the foundation is very careful not to post fake news as it is poorly reflected in the industry. But he admitted that while they try not to tweet fake news, “This time we’ve fucked up and we’ll work harder not to.”
LTC price corrected back down to previous levels before pump | Source: LTCUSD on TradingView.com
The Litecoin Foundation has no incentive to pump and dump
Litecoin is a decentralized cryptocurrency, which means anyone could post fake news to try to raise the price. And the Litecoin Foundation would have no benefit in operating a system of pumps and landfills.
The founder called for stricter review protocols and fact-checking policies for journalism would be the best way to act to combat problems like this. Lee also mentioned that the media that published the press release were in talks with the parties who submitted it. In an effort to track where the [fake] news originated.
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In the end, the Litecoin Foundation is stepping up its verification process to make sure the news is confirmed before it is tweeted. The founder explained that he understood the strength of his Twitter driver. And, as such, they will make sure to check the news before publishing it.
The foundation issued a statement stating that they never entered into a partnership with Walmart. “We have no information on where this idea came from or the press release. The Litecoin Foundation has not entered into any partnership with Walmart,” the statement said.
Featured image from Kryptomoney, chart from TradingView.com