Kroger says release about accepting Bitcoin Cash was fake
The grocery chain is that latest to get tangled up in a cryptocurrency scam.
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A Kroger grocery store in Louisville, Kentucky.
No, Kroger won't be accepting Bitcoin Cash at its grocery stores. The company said Friday that a press release claiming Kroger will accept the cryptocurrency was fraudulent. The release was published earlier Friday on PR Newswire, a service used by many major businesses to distribute press releases.
"This communication was fraudulent and is unfounded and should be disregarded," a Kroger spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
PR Newswire removed the release from its website but not before the false information was picked up by some publications and Kroger's own investor relations site, Bloomberg reported.
This appears to be the latest scam attempting to boost a cryptocurrency by linking it to a major retailer. A similar situation happened in September, when a fake press release was published by GlobeNewswire stating that Walmart would start accepting the cryptocurrency Litecoin. The retail giant confirmed that the information was false but not before the fake release received some attention and temporarily boosted the value of Litecoin.
The value of Bitcoin Cash spiked briefly on Friday, hitting $636 before settling back down to around $600, according to Coinbase.
PR Newswire didn't respond to a request for comment.
