May 07, 2022 21:00:00

NVIDIA pays a fine of over 700 million yen for 'hidden the number of GPUs sold to cryptocurrency miners'

In recent years, the demand for GPUs has increased sharply due to the combination of the

shortage of semiconductors due to the pandemic of the new coronavirus and the demand for mining virtual currencies. Demand was so high that 25% of the GPUs sold in January-March 2021 were purchased for cryptocurrency mining applications, but NVIDIA has limited mining performance accordingly. Will be released until. Such NVIDIA was indicted by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for 'hidden the number of GPUs sold to cryptocurrency miners' and agreed to pay a fine of 5.5 million dollars (about 720 million yen). ..

SEC.gov | SEC Charges NVIDIA Corporation with Inadequate Disclosures about Impact of Cryptomining
https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2022-79

Nvidia fined $ 5.5 million over crypto mining GPU disclosures --The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2022/5/6/23059930/nvidia-sec-charges-fine-settlement-gaming-gpu-crypto-mining

On May 6, 2022 local time, the SEC charged NVIDIA with 'hidden the number of GPUs sold to crypto miners.' SEC said, 'NVIDIA misleads investors by reporting GPU sales as'a significant increase in gaming revenue', and that much of its success (sales) was dependent on demand in the virtual currency market. I was hiding it. ' In response, NVIDIA did not admit fraud, but admitted that it did not properly disclose information and agreed to settle by paying $ 5.5 million.

SEC said, 'When Ethereum's mining demand surged dramatically in 2017, NVIDIA surged sales related to cryptocurrency mining,' and set a settlement based on NVIDIA's fiscal year 2018 financial report. doing.

SEC said, 'Analysts and investors at the time were interested in understanding how NVIDIA's earnings were affected by cryptocurrency mining, and the company's senior management regularly received sales from cryptocurrency mining demand. I was asking how much it was. ' However, NVIDIA declined to elaborate on whether high-spec GPUs are in high demand in the gaming market or in cryptocurrency mining. As a result, the SEC points out that 'NVIDIA was deliberately deceptive.'

In addition, when China's cryptocurrency bubble collapsed in the latter half of 2018, NVIDIA's quarterly earnings forecast decreased by 500 million dollars (about 65 billion yen). Therefore, it can be said that the concern of analysts and investors, 'Is NVIDIA's increase in profits due to demand for cryptocurrency mining?' Was correct.

Kristina Littman, Head of Cryptocurrency at SEC, said, 'NVIDIA's failure to disclose information has given investors the key information to properly assess NVIDIA's business in key markets. 'Companies seeking opportunities related to emerging technologies need to ensure that disclosure is timely, complete and accurate.'