Nvidia To Pay SEC $5.5M for Allegedly Failing to Disclose Crypto Revenue Boost

Nvidia will pay the Securities and Exchange Commission $5.5 million for allegedly failing to properly disclose the impact of cryptocurrency mining on its income. Nvidia failed to disclose that cryptocurrency mining was a “significant element of its material revenue growth” during 2018, according to the SEC. Customers discovered that the Santa Clara company’s CPUs, which were built and marketed for gaming, were also effective at generating new cryptocurrencies, particularly Ethereum. The SEC singled out two Nvidia filings from 2018 that declared a “substantial” revenue increase in its gaming division, despite the fact that Nvidia knew the rise was fueled by crypto mining. “Despite this, NVIDIA did not disclose in its Forms 10-Q, as it was required to do, these significant earnings and cash flow fluctuations related to a volatile business for investors to ascertain the likelihood that past performance was indicative of future performance,” the SEC said in a press release. The alleged omission was deemed misleading by regulators since Nvidia has already stated the extent to which crypto demand bolstered other sections of its business. The US Securities and Exchange Commission said it gave the impression that cryptocurrency mining had no impact on Nvidia’s gaming business. Between September 2017 and September 2018, Nvidia’s stock nearly doubled, a heady era for crypto markets fueled by bitcoin’s first-ever surge to $20,000. To the...