NVIDIA shares, NVDA, fell 7% on Thursday after a US federal judge allowed an investor lawsuit to proceed as a class action, reviving allegations that the company and CEO Jensen Huang concealed more than $1 billion in crypto-mining\u2013related graphics card sales.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The suit, originally filed in 2018, contends that NVIDIA misled shareholders by attributing surging revenue to gaming demand while minimizing the substantial contribution from cryptocurrency miners<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Plaintiffs maintain that the company funneled orders from miners through consumer GeForce gaming cards rather than reporting them under dedicated crypto product lines, inflating the appearance of organic gaming growth.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to internal testimony and documents disclosed in the court filing<\/a>, independent analyses place undisclosed crypto-related GPU revenue between $1.1 billion and $1.35 billion\u2014far exceeding what NVIDIA publicly acknowledged at the time.<\/p>\n In court materials, one insider identified as \u201cFE 1\u201d explained how the tracking system monitored miner purchases; another, \u201cFE 2,\u201d said Huang participated in sales meetings where crypto-driven demand and its effects on revenue were discussed.\u00a0<\/p>\n Plaintiffs argue these accounts, together with internal records<\/a>, show NVIDIA was aware of the scale of miner demand but publicly downplayed its significance.<\/p>\n NVIDIA has long maintained that crypto mining accounted for only a small fraction of its business and that any mining-related exposure was largely confined to dedicated Crypto SKUs within its OEM segment.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n NVIDIA\u2019s defense has drawn backing from industry groups: in August 2024, the Digital Chamber of Commerce filed an amicus brief urging the US Supreme Court to overturn a Ninth Circuit decision that had partially revived the case.<\/p>\nClass Action Certified Despite Company Defense<\/h2>\n