Nvidia CEO: Cryptocurrencies Are 'Here to Stay'

Nvidia is riding high on the boom in cryptocurrency mining, according to the graphics card (GPU) manufacturer.

Revealed yesterday, the California-based company's second-quarter earningshttp://files.shareholder.com/downloads/AMDA-1XAJD4/4977294827x0x953562/41D4959B-3296-4165-9D40-69471AD8AC78/Q2FY18_CFO_Commentary_FINAL.pdf were up 56 percent year over year, with its GPU division taking in $1.9 billion during the second quarter – a rise of 59 percent compared to the same period in 2016.

Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang struck a bullish tone about the prospects for selling to would-be miners, telling VentureBeat:

"Cryptocurrency and blockchain are here to stay. Over time, it will become quite large. It is very clear that new currencies will come to market. It’s clear the GPU is fantastic at cryptography. The GPU is really quite well positioned."

The firm's CFO, Colette Kress, echoed the remarks in statements, citing rising values in the global cryptocurrency market as a primary driver for GPU sales.

"Our PC OEM revenue includes GPUs designed for mainstream desktops, notebooks, and cryptocurrency mining," she said. "The recent rise in crypto coin prices resulted in increased demand in OEM GPU sales."

Huang's comments stand in contrast to those from rival GPU maker AMD, however. Last month, CEO Lisa Su indicated that the company doesn't see a long-term future for sales in the mining market. That aside, she indicated that her company would "continue to watch the developments" in the space.

Recent months have seen growing demand for GPUs from cryptocurrency miners, who use the cards to add new transaction blocks to a blockchain and receive newly minted coins as reward. GPUs are used to mine cryptocurrencies like ethereum and litecoin that use the "scrypt" hashing algorithm. Bitcoin, by contrast, is chiefly mined today using dedicated hardware called ASICs.

Jen-Hsun Huang image via Flickr/BagoGames (Creative Commons)