Nvidia faces certified class action over crypto revenue disclosures

A federal judge has certified a class of investors accusing Nvidia and its CEO, Jensen Huang, of concealing the extent to which the company's gaming GPU revenue was driven by cryptocurrency mining between 2017 and 2018, rejecting the chipmaker's bid to block the case.

In an order filed Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. granted plaintiffs' motion for class certification, finding they had met the legal standard to proceed as a group. The judge also denied Nvidia's motion to exclude the damages methodology of the plaintiffs' expert.

The class is defined as all persons or entities who purchased Nvidia common stock between Aug. 10, 2017, and Nov. 15, 2018. Lead plaintiffs are Lannebo Kapitalförvaltning AB and Stichting Pensioenfonds PGB.

The allegations 

According to the filing, plaintiffs allege that Nvidia’s public statements from 2017 to 2018 falsely characterized crypto-related revenue as insignificant and largely confined to its OEM segment, when in fact nearly two-thirds of that revenue came from GeForce gaming GPUs recorded in the Gaming segment.

Nvidia had argued that the alleged misstatements did not impact its stock price. The court found Nvidia failed to fully rebut evidence of price impact tied to the alleged misstatements, particularly around the November 2018 disclosure.

Following that disclosure, where Nvidia cut guidance and cited a "sharp falloff in crypto demand," the stock fell 28.5% over two trading sessions, per the filing. 

The court pointed to analyst reports from Morgan Stanley, Macquarie Research, and RBC Capital Markets that linked the November disclosure to prior statements about crypto exposure.

RBC Capital Markets later estimated Nvidia generated $1.95 billion in crypto-related revenue — far above the roughly $602 million the company had indicated over the same period, according to the order.

Investors first sued Nvidia in 2018. The case was dismissed in 2021 but revived by the Ninth Circuit in 2023. In 2022, the SEC fined Nvidia $5.5 million for failing to disclose the impact of crypto mining on its business.

The court's certification does not determine liability but allows investors to pursue claims collectively. A case management conference is set for April 21, 2026.