TL;DR

A court in Russia’s Sverdlovsk Oblast opened insolvency proceedings against Fox Group, the holding company that controls 98% of BitRiver’s capital.
The case stems from a lawsuit filed by Infrastructure of Siberia, an En+ subsidiary, over $9.2 million advanced under an equipment contract that was never fulfilled.
The mining company’s founder and CEO was placed under house arrest on tax evasion charges.

A regional arbitration court in Russia opened insolvency observation proceedings against Fox Group, the entity that controls 98% of the authorized capital of BitRiver, the country’s largest cryptocurrency mining operator. The process was initiated on January 27 by the Arbitration Court of Sverdlovsk Oblast and involves a formal review of the holding’s financial position.The case originated from a lawsuit filed by Infrastructure of Siberia, a subsidiary of the energy group En+. According to court records cited by the newspaper Kommersant, the company transferred approximately $9.2 million in advance, equivalent to 700 million rubles, under an equipment supply contract. The agreement was terminated after the equipment was not delivered, and subsequent enforcement attempts failed to recover the claimed assets.

Unpaid Accounts and Breached Contracts

Alongside the insolvency proceedings, Igor Runets, founder and chief executive officer of BitRiver, was placed under house arrest on charges related to tax evasion. The measure was ordered by a Moscow district court during the previous week, according to reports from local media. No additional details were disclosed regarding the scope of the investigation or the amounts involved.

Court filings also indicate that several accounts linked to companies within the BitRiver group were frozen as part of the ongoing legal actions. This measure affects the operational capacity of the entities involved and restricts the movement of funds tied to their commercial activities.

BitRiver Faces Multiple Legal Disputes

BitRiver is also involved in a series of ongoing lawsuits. Rosseti Siberia initiated legal action to recover approximately $60,000, equivalent to 5.4 million rubles, related to unpaid electricity bills under a service contract signed with the mining company in June 2024. The claim is currently under review by regional courts.

By late 2025, several entities within the group had stopped submitting required documentation in some active legal proceedings. In a case dated January 23, a court in Irkutsk returned an equipment recovery claim after repeated failures to meet formal requirements, including asset valuations and proof of ownership. Multiple court notices sent to BitRiver addresses were returned unclaimed within the statutory deadline.

BitRiver has been under U.S. sanctions since April 2022. The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control added the company and ten Russia-based subsidiaries of its Swiss holding company, BitRiver AG, to the Specially Designated Nationals list. The sanctions were imposed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and remain in effect.

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Filed under: News - @ February 2, 2026 5:24 pm