Biggest Winner In Crypto Boom
As the saying goes, the biggest wealth created from a gold rush isn't to the miners or the people who find gold. But to the person who sells the miner the shovel to dig for it.
NVIDIA has released it's profits and once again the company has seen steady growth as it continues to benefit from the rise of a more online world and the transition to the world needing stronger and more reliable computing power. The company has just hit USD 5 Trillion in valuation and we first saw the companies ascent in the early 2020s as it's graphics cards are a requirement in Bitcoin mining and are now taking centre stage as Artificial Intelligence (AI) boom takes hold.
Young Company, Fast Wealth
Founded in 1993 and best known for its graphics processing units (GPUs) for gaming and professional graphics, NVIDIA saw a dramatic change in demand when cryptocurrencies launched and exploded into our lives. GPU mining for proof-of-work (POW) Cryptocurrencies turned gaming graphics cards into de facto mining machines.
Mining algorithms for many Crypto’s could be undertaken more efficiently by using GPUs designed for many parallel threads which proved highly rewarding. NVIDIA’s cards became highly sought by crypto miners which than led to massive global demand, price spikes for cards and supply shortages.
The debut of crypto mining created an unexpected demand shock for NVIDIA’s core hardware business.
When hardware demand surges so do sales, profitability and investor movements. For NVIDIA, the crypto mining boom provided an additional demand on top of gaming and professional graphics. Some estimates suggested crypto miners accounted for a material portion of sales in 2017.
As GPUs became “money printing machines” for miners, the public began recognising that NVIDIA was sitting on an unusual hardware monopoly of sorts. One article points out “the first major pivot came with the 2017 cryptocurrency boom and suddenly, gaming graphics cards became money-printing machines with global demand far outstripping supply.
NVIDIA's Crypto Boom
This resulted in NVIDIA’s stock climbing more than it’s tech peers with recent data showing that since 2019, NVIDIA’s share price has surged over 4,200% making it “the best performing stock in the S&P 500 over the time frame.”
In the broader context NVIDIA has crossed major valuation milestones becoming the first public company to hit a USD 5 trillion market capitalisation in October 2025.
This shows that the crypto mining demand leg was an early boost for the company which has now seen it shift to AI data centres becoming the main engine for the emerging technology.
The overlap between crypto mining hardware demand and the massive hardware lift for AI created a perfect storm for NVIDIA’s stock price and has allowed everyone to profit off Cryptocurrency without the need to invest in a single decentralized asset or blockchain.
The Pivot to AI
Of course, the crypto-mining story had its caveats as mining hardware matured (ASICs) and with Ethereum’s transition away from proof-of-work, GPU-mining demand began to fade as the energy costs required to run the mining operations became unprofitable.
The company has since further pivoted and focused on its data centre and AI hardware business. As the world’s demand for AI compute continues to explode (large language models, generative AI, etc.), NVIDIA’s GPUs and accelerators continue to became the core infrastructure for the industry.
While crypto mining lit the fuse the explosion in GPU demand for AI has super charged NVIDIA’s growth and stock valuation.
Let’s put some numbers around it. Historical data shows that NVIDIA’s annual stock price growth is extraordinary. From MacroTrends in 2020 the annual return was about 122 %, in 2021 ~125 %, and in 2024 ~171 %.
More recently: the “chart” article from Visual Capitalist notes since 2019 a ~4,200 % increase in the share price, and that it beat every other firm in the S&P across 10- and 20-year spans.
From a valuation standpoint NVIDIA has become the first company to cross the USD 5 trillion marketcap mark is a signal of how far the stock has come.
It has been an interesting financial story because a lot of the companies boom has been attributed to cryptocurrency and no doubt there would have been many superannuation and 420k funds investing in the company. As well as many, many people who would have at the same time, been campaigning against Cryptocurrencies and more so now, AI.
I guess there is something in that insofar that you can still profit and make bank while also having a stance against the thing that is making you rich?
image sources provided supplemented by Canva Pro Subscription. This is not financial advice and readers are advised to undertake their own research or seek professional financial services.
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What a take! I didn't expect that NVIDIA would be the unexpected major beneficiary of the cryptocurrency boom. It's interesting to know NVIDIA is reaching a $5 trillion market valuation.
This is excellent news for those who invested in that company, believed in its success, and worked hard for it. Very good.