The founder of Russia’s largest crypto miner, BitRiver, has been placed under house arrest as a debt dispute tied to energy billionaire Oleg Deripaska escalates into formal bankruptcy proceedings, compounding pressure on a company once central to Moscow’s post-sanctions crypto strategy.
Russia’s Largest Crypto Mining Founder Detained as Deripaska-Linked Creditor Pushes Bankruptcy
2 February 2026 - 13:15 CET
By Matt Neill
Igor Runets, BitRiver’s founder and chief executive, was detained on tax evasion charges and placed under house arrest by Moscow’s Zamoskvoretsky District Court on 31 Jan, according to court records and local media reports.
The move comes days after an arbitration court opened bankruptcy supervision against Fox Group, which owns 98% of the management company that controls BitRiver’s operations.
Debt dispute tips miner into bankruptcy process
Bankruptcy supervision against Fox Group was initiated on 27 Jan, following a petition from Infrastructure of Siberia, an affiliate of En+ Group, which is partly owned by Deripaska. The filing stems from a long-running dispute over undelivered mining equipment.
An Irkutsk court ruled in April 2025 that Fox Group owed En+ more than $9.2mn, including penalties, after failing to deliver equipment despite receiving full prepayment. Court documents show that enforcement proceedings failed to identify sufficient assets to cover the claim, prompting the creditor to seek bankruptcy protection.
En+ structures had previously contracted with BitRiver-linked companies for the supply of mining hardware at prices reportedly well below market levels in tenders held in 2023 and 2024.
Arrest caps broader operational and regulatory squeeze
Runets’ detention marks a sharp escalation in a broader unravelling of BitRiver’s business. The company, which once operated more than 15 data centres with total capacity exceeding 530 megawatts and hosted over 175,000 mining units, has been hit by a cascade of regulatory bans, energy disputes and sanctions pressure.
Mining facilities in Irkutsk region have ceased operations following regional bans, a planned 100MW site in Buryatia was never commissioned, and a facility in Ingushetia was shut, with the involvement of law enforcement, despite an existing prohibition.
At the same time, BitRiver has faced mounting claims from power suppliers, with lawsuits seeking hundreds of millions of roubles in unpaid electricity bills and penalties. Industry sources cited by Russian media say staff reductions began in early 2025, followed by wage delays, office closures and the departure of the majority of senior management by year-end.
The crisis underscores the fragile position of Russia’s industrial-scale crypto mining sector. BitRiver had been viewed as a potential beneficiary of Moscow’s gradual liberalization of crypto activity as sanctions constrained access to traditional financial rails.
Instead, a mix of legal disputes, energy politics and criminal charges has left the country’s largest miner facing a possible break-up or change of ownership, with creditors now circling what remains of its infrastructure.
