Why it matters: Litecoin values spiked by more than 34 percent for a cursory period Mon morning after a bogus press release claimed Walmart would begin accepting the cryptocurrency. The whole fiasco, which lasted less than an hour, demonstrates the incredible influence that a major company can have on the crypto marketplace.

The printing release was shared on GlobeNewswire, a PR distribution platform used by many companies. The trouble, still, is that Walmart usually uses Business Wire to help distribute its press releases to media outlets. What's more, the GlobeNewswire slice linked to a not-performance website and as The Verge further highlights, in that location was no associated Securities and Exchange Commission filling which one would expect considering Walmart is a publicly traded company.

Walmart never posted the news release on its corporate website.

However, several news outlets published stories based on the simulated press release, and Litecoin'southward value went from around $175 to more than $236 in just 15 minutes.

Information technology didn't have long for people to catch on to the hoax. Less than 40 minutes subsequently reaching the $233 marker, Litecoin was back down to around $178.

It's unclear who was responsible for the artificial press release. A spokesperson for Walmart confirmed to CNBC that the release was non accurate, adding that they have reached out to the PR firm to investigate how the postal service made it out.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to determine a plausible motive behind the false press release: short-term financial proceeds. By swinging the market and then suddenly, whoever was behind information technology likely sold off their holdings at the peak and walked abroad with a sizable profit.