Rumors are swirling that Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) may soon launch dedicated graphics cards for cryptocurrency mining, which could unlock access to a market that's estimated to be worth at least half a billion dollars.

It could also spur an even greater rise in the chipmaker's stock, on top of the 37.8% its gained year to date, making it the best performing stock in the S&P 500so far this year. Shares of Nvidia fell more than 3% to $146.68 on Thursday, however, asinvestors continued a recent rotation out of tech stocks, dragging the FAANG stocks and other mega-cap tech names down further.

Shares of Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s (AMD) have gotten a boost recently thanks to a resurgence in mining of an alternative cryptocurrency called Ethereum. Mining is the process of verifying cryptocurrency transactions, at which point the transactions are added to the public ledger, called the blockchain. New cryptocurrency is created every time a transaction is verified, and those mining it make money whenever they do so.

Nvidia has yet to confirm that it will sell dedicated cryptocurrency cards, but product listings for chips using Nvidia-based and AMD-based GPUs recently appeared on Asus' website as part of a "Mining Series." Asus serves as a distribution partner for both chipmakers. Additionally, Christopher Rolland, an analyst with Susquehanna Financial Group, said he recently met with supply chain companies in Asia who confirmed that Nvidia plans to release two new graphics cards targeted for the cryptocurrency mining market.

If either company chooses to release a cryptocurrency-specific chip, Nvidia would be the clear winner, said RBC Capital Markets analyst Mitch Steves.

"Nvidia will win in the long term," Steves said. "They've historically been the best breed product for gaming and data center chips, so Nvidia will come out ahead. They have a product edge in general."

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This Is Why Nvidia Is Poised to Trample Advanced Micro Devices in the Cryptocurrency Mining Market - TheStreet.com