[Bitcoin Now] Hovering Around 54 Million KRW... Cryptocurrency Market Swayed by Fake News and Celebrity SNS Posts

Walmart Reportedly Allows Litecoin Payments... Walmart Immediately Denies
Elon Musk Tesla CEO Reveals Adoption of Dog 'Floki'... Cryptocurrency Named Floki Surges

[Asia Economy Reporter Gong Byung-sun] The representative cryptocurrency Bitcoin is hovering around the 54 million KRW mark. Meanwhile, as investment sentiment in cryptocurrencies begins to surge, fake news and social media posts by celebrities are once again causing turmoil in the cryptocurrency market.

According to the domestic cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, as of 2:31 PM on the 14th, Bitcoin recorded 54.59 million KRW, up 0.59% compared to the previous day. It surged to 56.66 million KRW at 10:46 PM the previous day but dropped back to the 54 million KRW range in less than an hour. Since then, there has been little fluctuation.

The altcoin Litecoin also surged. Until 10:30 PM the previous day, Litecoin was priced in the 210,000 KRW range, but it skyrocketed to 342,200 KRW in just 22 minutes. This is the first time it has reached the 300,000 KRW range since May 19.

The reason for Litecoin’s surge was fake news. On the 13th (local time), according to the US economic media CNBC, Walmart distributed a press release through the US press release service GlobeNewswire stating that it would adopt Litecoin as a payment method. The press release included a statement from Doug McMillon, Walmart’s CEO, saying, “Starting October 1, Litecoin can be used at all e-commerce stores.” Major foreign media also reported that Walmart had officially entered the cryptocurrency market based on this news.

However, Walmart immediately denied the related facts. A Walmart representative explained, “The contents of the press release are completely false, and we have investigated how the false information was posted on GlobeNewswire.” GlobeNewswire also stated, “We will request a full investigation by the relevant authorities to determine if there is any criminal possibility.” Consequently, Litecoin plunged back to the 210,000 KRW range in just over an hour. Those who bought Litecoin during the surge could have suffered significant losses.

On the 13th (local time), Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, announced on Twitter that he adopted a dog named 'Floki,' causing some cryptocurrencies to surge. (Source: Elon Musk Twitter)

Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, also once again influenced the cryptocurrency market. On the 13th, Musk tweeted, “Floki has finally arrived,” along with a photo of the dog he adopted. The problem is that after this photo was posted, cryptocurrencies with the name Floki began to surge. According to the cryptocurrency market tracking site CoinMarketCap, at the same time, ‘Shiba Floki’ surged 940.71% compared to the previous day. ‘Super Floki’ also rose 143.19%. Both coins were cryptocurrencies that had received little attention in the market, with values less than 1 KRW.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.