The Arbitration Court of the Sverdlovsk Region has initiated supervision proceedings (the first stage of bankruptcy) against LLC "Fox Group," which owns 98% of BitRiver. This was reported by Kommersant.
The claim was filed by En+'s subsidiary, "Infrastructure of Siberia." The firm is seeking to recover over 700 million rubles from the mining operator BitRiver. This amount includes an unreturned advance and penalties for undelivered equipment under contracts for 2023-2024.
In April 2025, the Arbitration Court of the Irkutsk Region had already ordered BitRiver to pay the debt; however, the operator failed to comply due to a lack of assets. This has led to the initiation of bankruptcy proceedings.
Sources suggest that the issues may have begun after the payment of VAT for the first quarter of 2024, amounting to around 400 million rubles.
Additional Challenges
The situation is exacerbated by claims from other major creditors, including "Rosseti." "En+ Sbyt" is demanding 133 million rubles in penalties for electricity, while the Irkutsk Electric Grid Company is claiming 640 million rubles, as noted by "Kommersant."
A ruling has already been made in favor of NTEK (a subsidiary of "Norilsk Nickel") for the payment of 168 million rubles for electricity.
According to reports, by the end of 2025, around 80% of BitRiver's top management and several employees had left the company. Many of its offices are closed, and equipment and documentation have been removed, journalists claim.
Sources indicate that negotiations are underway regarding a change of ownership and the transfer of remaining assets.
On January 31, the Zamoskvoretsky Court of Moscow placed BitRiver founder Igor Runets under house arrest, according to TASS, citing law enforcement sources. He is accused of concealing funds to evade tax payments, as reported by an agency source. Details of the case remain undisclosed.
It is worth noting that in 2024, BitRiver, in collaboration with oil and gas companies, processed over 150 million cubic meters of associated petroleum gas into electricity for bitcoin mining.