Nvidia Redesigns Graphics Cards to Limit Their Use in Ethereum Mining

Nvidia Redesigns Graphics Cards to Limit Their Use in Ethereum Mining

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Bank of America has a strong reputation for keeping finger on the pulse of the financial world – and one of its key tools is the Global Fund Manager Survey, conducted monthly and seeking opinions from more than 200 hedge fund, mutual fund, and pension fund managers who hold a combined $645 billion in AUM. It’s the largest regularly conducted survey of its kind. And BofA most recent findings show that Big Money is feeling confident. More than 90% of investors surveyed believe that 2021 will show a significant recovery from 2020, that asset allocations to stocks and commodities are at their highest in 10 years, and there’s a general belief that global growth is at an all-time high. So, there is a general consensus that now is the time to invest. The only remaining question is, invest in what? Wall Street pros argue there are early-stage companies that reflect promising opportunities, with the low share prices meaning you get significantly more bang for your buck. What’s more, even what seems like minor share price appreciation can result in massive percentage gains. The bottom line? Not all risk is created equal. To this end, the pros recommend doing some due diligence before making an investment decision. With this in mind, we used TipRanks’ database to find compelling penny stocks with bargain price tags. The platform steered us towards two tickers sporting share prices under $5 and “Strong Buy” consensus ratings from the analyst community. Not to mention substantial upside potential is on the table. ObsEva SA (OBSV) First up is a clinical-state biopharma company with a sharp focus on women’s health. ObsEva is working to develop and commercialize new therapeutics for women’s reproductive health issues – up to and including pregnancy. The company’s lead drug candidate, linzagolix (branded as Yselty), is an orally administered GnRH receptor antagonist that has completed two Phase 3 studies, PRIMROSE 1 in the US and PRIMROSE 2 in both the US and Europe. The clinical trials enrolled 574 and 535 patients, respectively, and used doses of 100mg or 200mg to treat heavy menstrual bleeding associated with uterine fibroids. The results from both studies were positive, supporting Linzagolix’s favorable safety and efficacy profile. In an update announced last month, ObsEva reported that, pursuant to Phase 3 results, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) had validated for review the company’s Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) for Yselty (100mg and 200mg). Potential MAA approval is anticipated in Q4:21. The drug is also slated to be the subject of a New Drug Application (NDA) that is due to be submitted to the FDA in Q2. With shares changing hands for $3.80 apiece, Wedbush analyst Liana Moussatos sees an attractive entry point for investors. “In our view, Linzagolix has the potential to achieve best-in class oral GnRH receptor antagonist status based on a flexible dosing regimen either with or without the add-back hormone therapy (ABT)—a key differentiator from other GnRH receptor antagonists… Based on the positive PRIMROSE 1 and PRIMROSE 2 primary endpoint results for YSELTY®/UF and additional follow-up data, we project annual sales of more than $750 million in 2027 for Linzagolix/UF,” Moussatos opined. To this end, Moussatos rates OBSV a Buy along with a $28 price target. Should her thesis play out, a potential twelve-month gain of ~643% could be in the cards. (To watch Moussatos’ track record, click here.) Overall, ObsEva has impressed its observers, as shown by the unanimous Strong Buy consensus rating on the shares, based on 3 recent Buy reviews. With a return potential of 342%, the stock’s consensus price target stands at $16.67. (See OBSV stock analysis on TipRanks) BELLUS Health (BLU) The second stock we’re looking at, BELLUS Health, is also a clinical stage biopharma research company – but the focus here is on an issue that few of us ever think about. Hypersensitivity – the state of being highly, or even excessively, sensitive to environmental or foreign stimuli – can cause a range of conditions from a chronic cough to serious disorders. Sometimes, the less severe chronic symptoms can be the worst. Chronic cough and chronic pruritus (itchy skin) are mild to moderate symptoms that can triggered by a range of factors – but when the symptoms don’t go away, they can have a disproportionately negative impact on the quality of life. BELLUS’ lead drug candidate, BLU-5937, is undergoing studies of its efficacy in the treatment of these symptoms. BLU-5937 is a highly selective PsX3 antagonist, working on the P2X3 receptor in the cough reflex pathway. The current clinical trial is a Phase 2b study, the follow-up to the Phase 2 RELIEF trial. The RELIEF trial enrolled 68 patients in the US and UK, of whom 52 completed two test periods. The trial showed a statistically significant cough count reduction in patients with a higher baseline count. The Phase 2b studies, are now enrolling and dosing patients, with interim results expected by mid-year and top line results expected to be published in the fourth quarter. Singing the healthcare name’s praises is RBC Capital analyst Gregory Renza. “With a proven MOA from the clinically successful P2X3 antagonistgefaxipant (MRK), we believe the high selectivity of BLU-5937 could lead to minimal taste effects and drive higher patient compliance and preference than gefapixant, where, if successful, we estimate revenues as early as2024 with over $900M peak global sales potential in RCC with upside from potential label expansion into indications linked to P2X3 hypersensitivity,” Renza noted. ”Despite the PE miss of the ph.II trial in RCC, we believe the stats sig reduction in awake cough frequency in patients with high baseline demonstrated POC and viability of the asset.” It should come as no surprise, then, that Renza joined the bulls. Along with an Outperform rating, the analyst gives the stock an $8 price target. This target conveys his confidence in BLU’s ability to surge ~116% in the next twelve months. (To watch Renza’s track record, click here) Turning now to the rest of the Street, other analysts also like what they’re seeing. With 3 Buys and no Holds or Sells, the word on the Street is that BLU is a Strong Buy. At $8.67, the average price target indicates ~134% upside potential. (See BLU stock analysis on TipRanks) To find good ideas for penny stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.

Nvidia announces new chips designed for mining Ethereum as the cryptocurrency hits record highs

Jensen Huang, president and CEO of Nvidia, speaks during the company’s event at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Jan. 6, 2019.

Nvidia on Thursday announced it will release a new series of semiconductors specifically for mining ether, the second-largest digital cryptocurrency.

The new chip type is called CMP, or Cryptocurrency Mining Processor. The first cards will go on sale in March, an Nvidia spokesperson said.

Ether mining is a process in which computers solve complicated math programs to help the Ethereum cryptocurrency network run. In exchange, miners get ether, the digital coin that runs on the Ethereum network. Ether hit a record high on Thursday, up over 160% year-to-date to over $1,914.

Ether’s mining algorithms run best on graphics cards, which is the kind of chip that Nvidia is known for. Miners often buy several graphics cards and put them in a single machine to maximize their return.

Last fall, Nvidia released a new series of graphics cards marketed at PC gamers that have been consistently sold out. The semiconductor industry is also facing a shortage across the board.

Thursday’s announcement suggests that at least some of the demand for Nvidia’s chips came from cryptocurrency miners, not just gamers.

“CMP products — which don’t do graphics — are sold through authorized partners and optimized for the best mining performance and efficiency,” Matt Wuebbling, head of GeForce marketing at Nvidia wrote in a blog post.

Nvidia said that the latest chip in its gaming graphics cards series, the RTX 3060, would be modified when it’s released later this year so it won’t mine ether effectively. Cards that have already been sold, like the RTX 3070 or RTX 3080, do not have the same limitations, the Nvidia representative said.

“RTX 3060 software drivers are designed to detect specific attributes of the Ethereum cryptocurrency mining algorithm, and limit the hash rate, or cryptocurrency mining efficiency, by around 50 percent,” Nvidia’s said in a blog post.

Graphics cards were first developed to enable high-definition computer games but they’re increasingly essential for new technologies like artificial intelligence. Their usefulness in mining ether isn’t new, either — in 2017, Nvidia said it made hundreds of millions of dollars per quarter selling chips to cryptocurrency miners.

“Cryptocurrency and blockchain is here to stay. The market need for it is going to grow, and over time it will become quite large,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in 2017.

PC gaming is also growing strongly. Consumer spending on PC gaming hardware was up 62% in 2020, according to an NPD Group estimate. A graphics card is often the most expensive part of a gaming PC.

Nvidia says it won’t nerf the Ethereum mining performance of existing GPUs

This morning, Nvidia announced that it would artificially reduce the performance of its upcoming $329 GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card when it comes to one specific task: Ethereum cryptocurrency mining. As weird as that news might sound, it was music to the ears of some gamers — who have been trying and failing to get their hands on graphics cards for months due to the great GPU shortage, and blaming miners for part of that.

You might be wondering: what does this mean for other GPUs? Nvidia isn’t talking about its plans for future graphics card just yet, but the company tells The Verge (in no uncertain terms) that it won’t nerf existing GPUs. “We are not limiting the performance of GPUs already sold,” says a spokesperson.

I was also a bit skeptical that the company’s new batch of Cryptocurrency Mining Processor (CMP) cards, marketed as an alternative for those miners, would mean that gamers might actually be able to buy an RTX 3060 as a result. If Nvidia’s diverting its already limited production capacity of GPUs towards CMPs, doesn’t that mean fewer gaming GPUs to begin with? There’s a global semiconductor shortage going on, you know.

But Nvidia strongly suggests the new CMPs won’t impact the ability to produce GeForce gaming cards at all. “The chips used for CMP could not meet the specifications of GeForce and don’t impact overall GeForce capacity or availability,” replied a spokesperson by email.

While Nvidia wouldn’t confirm that it’s talking about binning — the process by which chipmakers like Intel, AMD, Nvidia and others take chips that aren’t 100 percent operational due to occasional manufacturing defects, and sell them as slower or less feature-filled parts instead — the statement certainly sounds something like that.

But it could also be that they’re different altogether. The shot you see above of Nvidia’s CMP looks nothing like the layout of Nvidia’s GA102 used in the Ampere-based RTX 3080 and 3090, or the GA104 used in the RTX 3070 and RTX 3060 Ti. It doesn’t look much like Nvidia’s previous-gen Turing desktop chips, either. Perhaps the CMP is simply a GPU design that hasn’t publicly been revealed.

Real GA102 Ampere Die-Shot, very close to the official rendering. pic.twitter.com/qLUhzylT7B — Fritzchens Fritz (@FritzchensFritz) December 13, 2020

If so, it’s vaguely possible that Nvidia has a stockpile of older chips it’s putting to use. The company’s bringing back the GTX 1050 Ti from 2016, after all, and it’s doubtful that Nvidia switched over one of the RTX 30-series factories just to make that happen. But without knowing what the CMP actually is, your guess is as good as ours.

Lastly, you might be wondering: why only nerf Ethereum mining, when other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have also seen incredible gains? Here’s Nvidia’s full answer:

Ethereum has the highest global mining yield for any GPU-mineable coin at the moment and thus is likely the main demand driver for GPUs in mining. Other algorithms do not contribute significantly to GPU demand and this cannot change quickly due to network effects within a given cryptocurrency. The rate limiter applies to anything that uses Dagger Hashimoto or Ethash-like algorithms.

We’re looking forward to seeing whether Nvidia can make the $329 GeForce RTX 3060 any easier to buy than previous GPUs when it launches February 25th at 12PM ET. After months of around-the-clock hunting, I finally managed to nab a 3060 Ti a couple weeks back — here’s hoping you won’t need to go that far.