A U.S. federal judge in California has certified an investor class in a securities lawsuit accusing Nvidia and its CEO, Jensen Huang, of misleading shareholders about the extent to which its gaming revenue during the 2017–2018 crypto boom was driven by GPU sales to cryptocurrency miners.
In a March 25 order, U.S. District Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. allowed investors to pursue their claims as a group, emphasizing that class certification is a procedural step and does not determine whether Nvidia’s statements were actually fraudulent.
The certified class includes investors who purchased Nvidia stock between Aug. 10, 2017, and Nov. 15, 2018. The case centers on “price impact,” specifically whether the alleged misstatements influenced the company’s share price.
The lawsuit builds on prior regulatory action. In 2022, Nvidia agreed to pay a $5.5 million penalty and accepted a cease-and-desist order over insufficient disclosures related to crypto mining’s contribution to its gaming GPU revenue. In December 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to overturn a Ninth Circuit decision that allowed the shareholder lawsuit to move forward.
Investors claim Nvidia and Huang downplayed how much of the company’s strong gaming revenue came from crypto miners. According to the complaint, the reality began to surface after Nvidia’s Aug. 16, 2018 earnings call and guidance cut, when the stock fell about 4.9%. The situation escalated further after a Nov. 15, 2018 revenue warning, which triggered a roughly 28.5% drop in share price over two trading days.
Investors first filed suit against Nvidia in 2018, with the current amended complaint submitted in 2020. The lawsuit claims the company downplayed how heavily its gaming revenue depended on GPU sales to cryptocurrency miners, allegedly understating more than $1 billion in crypto-related revenue.
In response, an Nvidia spokesperson said that investors who bought shares during the 2017–2018 period “have done incredibly well, as our corporate strategy unfolded as we consistently predicted,” adding that the company intends to contest the allegations in court.
The case is now moving into its next phase. In the March 25 ruling, the judge declined to exclude the plaintiffs’ “out-of-pocket” damages model, as well as a statistical “event study” used to assess stock price movements around key disclosure dates.
A case management conference has been scheduled for April 21, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time and will be conducted via a public Zoom webinar.
