Nvidia has been fined $5.5 million by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for "inadequate disclosures" around the amount of gaming GPUs it sold to crypto miners.
The SEC said in a press release that Nvidia "failed to disclose that cryptomining was a significant element of its material revenue growth" in gaming GPU sales. The SEC's order also found that Nvidia was inconsistent in how it disclosed crypto's impact on various parts of its business, creating the false impression that its gaming sales weren't significantly impacted by the volatile cryptomining market, therefore misleading investors.
"Nvidia's disclosure failures deprived investors of critical information to evaluate the company's business in a key market," said the SEC's Kristina Littman. "All issuers, including those that pursue opportunities involving emerging technology, must ensure that their disclosures are timely, complete, and accurate."
Alongside bots that snap up gaming GPUs the minute they appear online, cryptominers are another big reason it's been hard to find the best graphics cards on the market. Cryptomining is essentially the process of earning crypto currency in exchange for verifying blockchain transactions on distributed ledgers. The SEC said Nvidia's customers have increasingly been using its gaming GPUs to make money on the blockchain since 2017.
Nvidia hasn't admitted to any wrongdoing but is settling with the SEC and agreeing to a cease-and-desist order related to its alleged failures to disclose.
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