Russia’s Largest Crypto Miner BitRiver Faces Bankruptcy as CEO Under House Arrest: Report

BitRiver, Russia’s largest crypto mining firm, is facing potential bankruptcy after a regional arbitration court opened insolvency supervision proceedings against its controlling shareholder.

Igor Runets, BitRiver’s founder and chief executive, was reportedly placed under house arrest on tax evasion charges after a Moscow district court issued a ruling last week.

Proceedings that would evaluate BitRiver were initiated by the Arbitration Court of Sverdlovsk Oblast, which on January 27 opened bankruptcy observation against Group of Companies Fox, which owns 98% of BitRiver’s authorized capital.

The move follows a claim filed by Infrastructure of Siberia, an En+ Group subsidiary, according to court filings cited in reporting from Kommersant, a Russian paper of record for corporate and legal affairs.

The subsidiary reportedly paid BitRiver more than $9.2 million (700 million rubles) in advance under an equipment supply contract that was later terminated after the equipment was not delivered. Enforcement proceedings failed to recover the assets under claim, per the report.

Court documents cited were not immediately available for public review. Decrypt has reached out to BitRiver and relevant Russian authorities for confirmation and comment.

Sanctions and deterioration

As part of the dispute, accounts linked to BitRiver companies were reportedly frozen, a move that could paralyze an already deteriorating business marred by sanctions.

In separate proceedings found by Decrypt through the company’s state registration number, a company named Rosseti Siberia is seeking to recover about $60,000 (5.4 million rubles) in unpaid electricity bills from Management Company BitRiver under a June 2024 service agreement.

By late 2025, other BitRiver entities had deteriorated to the point where it failed to produce required documents for lawsuits properly.

In one instance, a January 23 Irkutsk court ruling returned an equipment recovery case after the plaintiffs failed twice to meet basic requirements like providing equipment valuations and proof of ownership, despite deadline extensions.

Court notices to BitRiver addresses were returned unclaimed after seven days, though the company had submitted some documents back in December.

These dysfunctions are consistent with local reporting of mass executive departures and office closures from the company. Its social media accounts have remained inactive since early 2022.

BitRiver has been under U.S. sanctions since 2022, Decrypt previously reported.

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned BitRiver in April of that year, marking the first time the U.S. sanctioned a cryptocurrency mining company.

BitRiver and ten Russia-based subsidiaries of its Switzerland-based holding company BitRiver AG were added to the Specially Designated Nationals list as part of sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The crypto mining company helped Russia “monetize its natural resources” by operating large-scale server farms that sold mining capacity internationally, Treasury stated at the time.

The federal agency said the business model relied on Russia’s access to cheap energy and cold climate, while remaining vulnerable to sanctions because of its dependence on imported equipment and fiat payment channels.