They might doing the same thing video games do to combat piracy. No DRM is unbreakable, all games are eventually cracked, so why bother? The thought is that it

They might doing the same thing video games do to combat piracy. No DRM is unbreakable, all games are eventually cracked, so why bother? The thought is that it buys enough time during the critical launch window to sway people who will have pirated the game to buy a copy instead. The case for this kind of video card "DRM" is actually stronger because miners either have to gamble and buy cards they know they won't be able to use until (or even if) a "crack" is available, or wait until a solution is available before buying them. If the miners wait, this is a win for gamers and Nvidia PR because the cards will be bought by gamers since cards have a limited supply unlike video game licenses.