Kroger confirms Bitcoin Cash claims are fake

America’s largest grocery retailer, Kroger, has confirmed that a press release claiming the company would accept Bitcoin Cash (BCH) throughout its stores was fake.

A Kroger spokesperson told Reuters: “This morning a press release was fraudulently issued claiming to be The Kroger Co that falsely stated the organisation will begin to accept Bitcoin Cash.”

The spokesperson also confirmed that the “communication was fraudulent and is unfounded and should be disregarded”.

The fake release was first posted on Kroger’s ‘investor relations‘ section of its website before being quickly removed.

It was then picked up by a newswire service and included a quote from Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen, which lead many to believe the release was real.

The price of Bitcoin Cash shot up an approximate 5% following the release as investors looked to get ahead of the supposed adoption of the coin.

However, approximately 10 minutes following the release, Kroger then swiftly denied any claims made as “fraudulent” – sending the price crashing back to where it started pre-release.

The saga is reminiscent of a September story involving Walmart and its supposed acceptance of Litecoin in its stores, which was also confirmed as false.