The financial media has gone into full Bitcoin frenzy and Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ:), which remains at the center of the cryptocurrency arms race. What does it all mean for NVDA stock? Everywhere you turn, people are making new predictions, seeming more outlandish than the last. One analyst says that it’s going to hit $40,000 – no, make that, $100,000 next year. The next minute, someone fires back that Bitcoins are tulips and set to crash. Regardless, as any historian would tell you, in a gold rush, you make money selling the shovels rather than digging for treasure itself.

AMD, Nvidia coin mining graphics cards appear as gaming GPU shortage intensifies Gamers will likely still struggle to find affordable hardware, though. Watch video Nvidia to launch graphics cards specifically designed for. Nvidia to launch graphics cards specifically designed for digital currency. For coin mining with.

Bitcoin Reaches New Heights Last week saw Bitcoin reach new levels of success. The cryptocurrency topped $10,000, and it didn’t stop there.

It almost doubled in the space of a few days, hitting $19,000 on some exchanges. Prices have been volatile since then, but Bitcoin has largely managed to hold onto its gains. • That comes even after CBOE Holdings (NASDAQ:) launched exchange-traded futures contracts for Bitcoin on Sunday. Many analysts had expected Bitcoin prices to drop off sharply once futures trading became available.

In theory, the ease of shorting Bitcoin would allow institutions to sell into the currency’s huge rally. In practice, however, Bitcoin continues to trade higher despite the launch of the futures market.

NVDA Stock: Its Evolving Position Within Crypto In the past, NVDA, along with chief rivals such as Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:) provided the primary firepower for mining Bitcoins. Miners would purchase high-powered graphics cards from NVDA and start earning their loot. However, Bitcoin reached the so-called crossover point where it no longer became economical to mine using graphics cards. Bitcoin’s soaring price has led to an abundance of miners competing to obtain the new supply of Bitcoins. Nowadays, the mining collectives generally use more specialized ASIC equipment which was designed specifically for the task of solving the puzzles needed to earn coins. But don’t panic, this still helps NVDA stock. While Nvidia’s graphics cards are no longer profitable for Bitcoin mining, they are still useful for mining Ethereum and most other of the less valuable cryptocurrencies.

As long as difficulty on these other coins remains lower, graphics cards will still be able to achieve a profit even after the cost of electricity. Bitcoin Is The Star, but It’s Hardly the Only Relevant Factor As of this writing, the total market cap for all cryptocurrencies is $440 billion. Bitcoin dominates the lion’s share of that figure, with its sum at $275 billion. Ethereum is next up at $45 billion, Bitcoin Cash at $23 billion and so on down. For now, the market cap of coins that can be profitably mined with Nvidia’s GUI cards is $165 billion.

That’s a larger sum than the entire crypto market cap just months ago. In theory, Ethereum is about to cross over to the point where only ASIC mining will earn a net return after electricity costs, thus taking away another mining option for Nvidia cards. However, that would still leave more than $100 billion in mineable cryptocurrencies for GUI cards to go after. Anyone declaring that NVDA stock is set to fall sharply due to falling demand in this area is making a mistake. How Bitcoin’s Rally Helps NVDA Stock You might be saying, “But if no one is mining for Bitcoin with Nvidia equipment anymore, who cares if NVDA stock goes up?” That is a reasonable question. However, it’s important to remember that the whole crypto-universe revolves around Bitcoin and Ethereum. The less glamorous coins, in particular, usually trade in relation to the price of the major coins, rather than dollars.

So if someone mining a minor coin with an Nvidia card wants to cash out, they’ll trade their alternative cryptocurrency for Bitcoin and then sell the Bitcoin for cash. Given this chain of events, a higher Bitcoin price makes the whole universe more compelling for mining, and thus lifts demand for Nvidia cards, and in turn, the NVDA stock price. How Much Money Do ZClassic ZCL Miners Make here. The opposite effect is also true, a crash in Bitcoin prices would crush interest in mining most of the other coins as well. Can Nvidia Please Two Markets? Earlier this year, as Bitcoin started ramping up from the $1,000 level into uncharted territory, Nvidia and AMD ran into a problem. They didn’t have enough cards on hand to meet demand. Mining operations were buying up all the fresh inventory of high-end cards leaving Nvidia unable to satisfy all its customers.

This demand failure disappointed its gaming enthusiasts. Prices spiked up and backlash built with it. Heading into the pivotal holiday season, Nvidia appears to have produced sufficient inventory to serve both miners and gamers. However the sudden explosion in Bitcoin prices will undoubtedly cause another wave of consumer interest in GUIs. This is the sort of NVDA news that you want to hear. The key, however, will be finding the right balance. Make too much inventory and you risk Bitcoin prices falling and getting stuck with a large supply of unneeded cards.

On the other hand, a repeat of this spring, with too little inventory, leaves a ton of money on the table and angers your core gaming customers who will still be around for years to come, regardless of whatever may happen with crypto. All in all though, it’s a great problem to have. Nvidia is in a powerful position as Bitcoin continues to rally, and NVDA stock is a significantly safer way to playing the mania than actually buying Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.

At the time of this writing, the author held no position in any of the aforementioned securities. You can reach him on Twitter at @irbezek. More from InvestorPlace • • • The post appeared first on. Reuters Cryptocurrencies plunged on Friday, with bitcoin at one point sliding below $8,000 and headed for its biggest weekly loss since December 2013, amid worries about a regulatory clampdown globally.

This week's slump brought the total market value of cryptocurrencies down to around $400 billion, half the high it reached in January, according to industry tracker Coinmarketcap.com. The market value of cryptocurrencies is calculated by multiplying the number of digital coins in existence by their price, although many question whether that is the right way to value them. Bloomberg Frontier Communications Corp. Is working with advisers to sell assets as the debt-laden rural telecom company looks to raise new funds and fix its capital structure, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The company is considering a sale of a package of landline assets in California, Florida and Texas that it acquired from Verizon Communications Inc. In a $10.5 billion deal just two years ago, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. The company has a market valuation of about $695 million. Time President Donald Trump on Friday authorized the release of a controversial memo that reportedly accuses the FBI of abusing its surveillance powers in its investigation into whether Trump’s presidential campaign colluded in Russian election meddling.

The memo is expected to become public later on Friday. The memo, which follows an investigation directed by Republican House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes of California, has been touted by Republican lawmakers and conservative media figures as confirmation of supposed political bias against Trump among the country’s top law enforcement officials. FiveThirtyEight Republicans are skeptical but Americans overall support it. It’s hard, therefore, to see the much-hyped “Nunes memo,” which Trump declassified and congressional Republicans then made public on Friday, changing all that much. Trump has reportedly told friends he thinks the document — which was written by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee, led by California’s Devin Nunes, and criticizes the FBI’s conduct in the early stages of the Russia investigation — will undermine special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe, but opinion on Trump, Mueller and Russia largely falls along partisan lines, which will make it hard to move. Time Addressing fellow Republicans at the House and Senate Republican Member Conference in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, mentioned the wildlife refuge known as ANWR in Alaska’s northeast corner as he recounted accomplishments in the last year, including the tax bill passed by Congress in December.

Trump said he “never appreciated ANWR so much” but was told of its importance by others. “A friend of mine called up, who’s in that world and in that business, and said, ‘Is it true that you’re thinking about ANWR?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I think we’re going to get it, but you know.’ He said, ‘Are you kidding? Quartz Soon, baseball fans won’t have to bear with Chief Wahoo.

Heeding pressure from the Major League Baseball’s commissioner, the Cleveland Indians announced this week that it will phase out the red-faced mascot from its uniforms by next season. Like the name and branding of the equally controversial Washington Redskins football team, the Indians’s 66-year old symbol has been widely condemned as an offensive, “racist caricature,” and Native American groups have been calling for Chief Wahoo’s abolition since the 1970’s. Insider Monkey Florida-based Polen Capital sees value in Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG), which struggled during the past year. The biotechnology company dropped nearly 10% in 2017. Polen Capital, however, is still confident about Celgene, and in its Q4 investor letter (a copy of which can be downloaded here), the investment firm noted that it sees 'ample opportunities' for the company to grow. A similar confidence was expressed lately by another investment firm Wedgewood Partners, which called the biotechnology company a compelling growth opportunity in its Q4 investor letter. Time When President Donald Trump met with Aflac employees in the Oval Office to discuss tax cuts, he noted that First Lady Melania Trump once starred in a TV ad for their company. Because the internet never forgets anything, a copy of the campy 2005 Aflac commercial starring the future First Lady and a talking duck can still be seen on YouTube.

Trump has no lines in the ad except the end, when she opens her mouth and quacks like the Aflac duck before starring at her newly webbed feet in horror. MarketWatch Heading into its fourth-quarter earnings report scheduled for Feb. 13, analysts are raising concerns about Under Armour Inc.’s relevance, with everything from the company’s products to its choice of a flagship location being called into question. The holiday season was a cheerful one for retailers, and Wedbush analyst Christopher Svezia expects Under Armour(UAA)to exceed “low” expectations in the quarterly results. “It is clear that consumer interest [in] the Under Armour brand is not what it once was, as seen in its North American sales declines and its recent first sales decline in memory,” Wedbush said in a note published Wednesday.

Bloomberg The fastest-ever rotation into stocks from Treasuries and high-yield debt has strengthened Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s contrarian sell signal, as risk-hungry investors shrug off the global equity selloff. Stock funds completed another “massive” week of inflows following a record influx last Friday as strong earnings reports offset concerns over a jump in U.S. Government bond yields. Investors poured $25.7 billion into equities in the week to Jan.

31, taking the total inflow for the year to a 'remarkable' $102 billion, the bank said, citing EPFR Global data.