Kroger will not accept ‘bitcoin cash,’ despite what a press release said

A neon sign hanging in the window of Healthy Harvest Indoor Gardening in Hillsboro, Ore., shows that the business accepts bitcoin as payment. | Gillian Flaccus, Associated Press

A press release hoax led to a surge in bitcoin cash’s value

Kroger will not start accepting bitcoin cash, despite a press release indicating the opposite, per Reuters.

Earlier this week, a press release appeared on PR Newswire that said Kroger would accept bitcoin cash, opening the door for cryptocurrency investors to use their dollars at Kroger stores.

• But the press release has since been taken down. You can still visit the link to the release.
• The press release appeared on Kroger’s website, which pulls press releases from PR Newswire, for a brief time, too.

Kroger told The Verge that the bitcoin cash press release is fake.

• “This morning a press release was fraudulently issued claiming to be The Kroger Co. that falsely stated the organization will begin to accept Bitcoin Cash. This communication was fraudulent and is unfounded and should be disregarded,” Kroger said in a statement, per The Verge.

Coinbase data show the price of bitcoin cash rose 5% after the apparent hoax.

Something similar happened to Walmart. A newswire reported that Walmart would start accepting the cryptocurrency Litecoin, but that proved to be false, according to Yahoo! Finance. In response, Litecoin’s value jumped 20%, which allowed investors to sell off at a high rate.

Kroger will not accept ‘bitcoin cash,’ despite what a press release said
Source: Gabriella Pinoys