Nvidia to pay $5.5M for ‘inadequate disclosures’ about cryptomining

(Reuters) – Nvidia Corp. has agreed to pay $5.5 million to settle civil charges that the technology firm did not properly disclose the impact of cryptomining on its gaming business, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Friday.

Nvidia failed to disclose that cryptomining was a "significant element" of its revenue growth during back-to-back quarters in fiscal 2018 despite having information that showed the increase in its gaming sales was driven in part from it, the SEC said in a statement and charging order.

Nvidia's failure to disclose material information misled investors and analysts who were interested to understand the impact of cryptomining on Nvidia’s business, the SEC said.

The firm, which did not admit or deny the SEC’s findings, agreed to pay a civil penalty of $5.5 million. A spokesperson for Nvidia did not respond immediately to request for comment.

Cryptomining is the process of obtaining crypto rewards in exchange for verifying crypto transactions on distributed ledgers, according to the SEC website.