BitRiver’s Parent Firm Enters Bankruptcy Monitoring as CEO Faces House Arrest

• BitRiver’s parent company entered bankruptcy monitoring after failing to repay over $9 million in debt.
• BitRiver CEO Igor Runets was placed under house arrest on tax evasion charges.

Russia’s largest bitcoin mining company, Bitriver’s parent company, named Fox Group of companies LLC, which owns 89% of the BitRiver management company, is in serious trouble. On January 27, 2026, the Sverdlovsk Regional Arbitration Court ordered formal bankruptcy monitoring for the Fox group. 

What was the bankruptcy case all about

The bankruptcy petition was filed by the Infrastructure of Siberia and a unit of energy giant En+. The company has paid over 700 million rubles in advance to the Fox group for the mining equipment, which was not delivered. The contract was cancelled, and in April 2025, the regional court ruled in favor of the En+ subsidiary. When the authorities tried to collect the money, they found that there was not enough money, and this led to a bankruptcy filing, and BitRiver’s bank accounts were frozen. 

BitRiver is facing large unpaid electricity bills. Courts are currently reviewing several claims of 133 million rubles owed to En+, 640 million rubles owed to the Irkutsk Electric Grid Company, and 168 million rubles already awarded to NTEK. Together, the claims exceed 940 million rubles. 

According to the local media reports, the layoffs began in early 2025, and the employee salaries were delayed. Around 80% of senior management had left, and many offices were closed. This makes BitRiver’s business activity sharply decline. 

Igor Runets, BitRiver’s founder and CEO, has been charged with tax evasion under Russian law. In January, Moscow’s Zamoskvoretsky District court placed the Runnets under house arrest, and the authorities have not released any detailed information about the charges.

Rise and Downfall

At the time of its peak, the company operated 15 data centers and had more than 533 megawatts of power capacity, with control over 50% of Russia’s bitcoin mining market. Today, the company is facing bankruptcy and legal actions. This shows that the large crypto mining firms can fall when the power cost rises and legal pressure increases.

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