Skip to content Skip to sidebar Skip to footer

Supreme Court Rejects Nvidia’s Appeal in Crypto Lawsuit: What It Means for Investors

  • The U.S. Supreme Court dismissed Nvidia’s attempt to end a lawsuit over misleading crypto-related sales.
  • Shareholders claim Nvidia downplayed over $1 billion in GPU sales to crypto miners.
  • Evidence from ex-Nvidia employees and regulatory agencies supported the case.
  • Nvidia says it’s ready to fight the claims, but the decision puts the spotlight on transparency and trust in the tech world.

The road just got bumpier for Nvidia. The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear the company’s appeal to dismiss a lawsuit from investors who say they were misled about the role of crypto mining in Nvidia’s business. The decision, announced on December 11, 2024, leaves the tech giant with a legal challenge it had hoped to avoid.

How We Got Here

https://twitter.com/ZoltanLukacsi/status/1866932037401096525

This story began in 2018, during the height of the cryptocurrency boom. Nvidia, known for its high-performance GPUs (graphics processing units), saw its sales soar — partly because crypto miners were snapping up those GPUs to mine digital currencies. But when the crypto market crashed later that year, Nvidia’s sales took a nosedive, and its stock price fell by 30% in just two days.

Shareholders were stunned. They claimed Nvidia had hidden just how much of its business relied on the unpredictable crypto market. According to the lawsuit, the company’s CEO, Jensen Huang, downplayed the importance of GPU sales to crypto miners.

The Supreme Court’s Decision

Nvidia had been fighting to get the case thrown out, and for a while, it looked like they might succeed. A California district court dismissed the lawsuit in 2021. But in August 2023, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that decision, breathing new life into the case.

Nvidia took the fight to the Supreme Court, but on December 11, the justices issued a simple one-line order: appeal denied. No explanations. No debates. Just a closed door.

Nvidia’s Reaction

Nvidia isn’t backing down. A company spokesperson expressed disappointment but remained defiant:

“We would have preferred a ruling supporting the dismissal of this case, but we are fully prepared to continue our defense.”

The spokesperson also highlighted the need for clear and consistent standards in securities litigation:

“Shareholders deserve protection, and a strong economy depends on fairness and transparency.”