Russian Bank Seeks Bankruptcy of BitRiver Founder Over $9 Million Debt

A Russian bank has asked the Arbitration Court of Sverdlovsk Oblast to declare Igor Runets, founder of crypto mining firm BitRiver, bankrupt over claims exceeding 770 million rubles, roughly $9.3 million. The petition was submitted on November 3, according to the court's registry of arbitration cases, as reported by TASS and RBC.

The filing is the latest turn in a collapse that has engulfed what was Russia's largest industrial cryptocurrency mining operator. BitRiver provided connection, hosting and maintenance services for mining equipment across a network of data centers. Two years ago the group managed 15 facilities with a combined capacity of 533 MW, hosting approximately 175,000 hardware units. Although headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, its main operations sat in Russian regions offering low-cost energy and cool climates, notably Siberia.

What does the collapse mean for the founder?

Runets, 40, born in Odessa, Ukraine, founded BitRiver in 2017. His net worth was estimated at $230 million in the fall of 2024. At the end of January 2026 he was detained in Moscow on tax evasion charges and initially placed under house arrest.

In July, prosecutors charged him with large-scale fraud over an undelivered hardware order and transferred him to a permanent detention facility. The equipment had been ordered by companies within En+ Holding, the energy and metals producer founded and controlled by oligarch Oleg Deripaska.

Sources familiar with the investigation told RBC that Fox, the group entity owning BitRiver, was contracted to supply mining equipment worth more than $8 million and received the bulk of that sum. The buyer reportedly received neither the hardware nor a refund, with total damages of nearly 1 billion rubles, over $12 million — more than the market value of 533 MW of hosting capacity two years prior, illustrating the scale of the exposure relative to the business itself.

Investigators contend Runets never intended to fulfill the contract or return the prepayment, and instead deployed the funds for other purposes. Fox had separately accumulated an estimated debt of more than $9 million and could not raise sufficient funds to service it.

How did the bankruptcy cascade unfold?

The court actions have moved on multiple tracks since early this year:

• In February, the Federal Tax Service (FNS) filed a bankruptcy petition against BitRiver-B, a subsidiary in the Republic of Buryatia, citing 3.6 million rubles — nearly $44,000 — in outstanding tax debt.
• Infrastructure of Siberia, an En+ entity, initiated bankruptcy procedures against the Fox group over unfulfilled contractual obligations. The Arbitration Court of the Sverdlovsk region upheld the creditor's claims and declared the company bankrupt.
• Russian authorities launched formal bankruptcy monitoring of BitRiver entities, which had held the leading position in the mining sector — the first crypto industry legalized in Russia.
• An interim manager appointed by the court to explore solutions for BitRiver, including a change of ownership, has alleged that the bankruptcy may have been intentional.

The group and En+ had also operated a joint venture, Bit+, created in 2019 for joint cryptocurrency mining, before Fox withdrew from the project.

Sanctions complicate any restructuring. Many participants in the dispute, including PSB (formerly Promsvyazbank) and BitRiver itself, have been targeted by Western sanctions imposed over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, limiting access to foreign counterparties and capital for any prospective buyer of the assets.

With Runets in pre-trial detention, fraud and tax charges pending, and creditors now lining up across at least three separate bankruptcy tracks, the arbitration court's handling of the November 3 petition will determine whether the founder's personal estate is folded into the group's insolvency proceedings.