Nvidia, the GPU warlord, is getting thrown back into the legal ring. Turns out, they might’ve been way too slick with how they painted their revenue picture during the crypto craze of 2017-2018. A class action suit accusing them of faking the funk and downplaying how much crypto miners were juicing their sales has clawed its way back into the U.S. Supreme Court. U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar and SEC top dog Theodore Weiman said the case is solid enough to move forward, as per an amicus brief.
So, back in the day, Nvidia was hyping up how gamers were eating up their GeForce GPUs like candy, but behind the curtain, crypto miners were bagging up those units in bulk. And the gaming story they pushed? Turns out, it might’ve been more cap than fact. Investors got caught in that little matrix, and now the case is heating up again, with serious consequences on the line for Nvidia.
Insiders Blow the Lid, Crypto Mining Takes Center Stage
But it ain’t just investors shouting from the rooftops. Former Nvidia heads, tagged as FE 1 and FE 2, dropped some serious intel. FE 1 says Nvidia had a secret stash of data tracking how many GPUs were ending up in the hands of crypto miners. FE 2 took it a step further, saying CEO Jensen Huang himself was chopping it up at sales meetings where crypto’s role in revenues was straight-up discussed. Huang apparently knew what was up, but Nvidia chose to stay quiet about the crypto bags they were securing.
The market’s reaction to the 2018 crypto crash blew the cover wide open. Nvidia’s revenues took a nosedive, and suddenly, it was clear who had been driving the bus all along. Those miners were making big waves, but the company kept its lips sealed when talking to the public.
Feds and SEC: Nvidia Knew the Game All Along
Now, the Department of Justice and the SEC are tag-teaming this, saying Nvidia didn’t just know about crypto miners stacking their chips—they tried to ghost that whole side of the story. Prysm Group’s analysis put the puzzle together: internal docs, employee chatter, and the brutal drop after the 2018 crash all line up. This wasn’t some coincidence. Nvidia’s crypto exposure was the real play, and they kept that alpha to themselves.
The case got tossed by a judge in 2021, but the Ninth Circuit is back on it after an amended complaint, giving this suit new life. The DOJ and SEC are saying this crosses into “scienter” territory—fancy talk for intentionally pulling the wool over investors’ eyes. If this lands against Nvidia, it could shake how companies play ball when crypto enters the chat.
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