Russian investigators have turned a failed equipment sale involving BitRiver, once Russia's dominant industrial Bitcoin mining operator, into a criminal case carrying up to 10 years in prison.
According to an RBC report published Wednesday, BitRiver founder Igor Runets was charged under Part 4 of Article 159 of Russia's Criminal Code and transferred from house arrest to pretrial detention for two months.
- Investigators also seized his stakes in companies linked to BitRiver and Fox, the outlet said. The statute covers fraud committed by an organized group or on an especially large scale.
Investigators allege Runets-controlled Fox Group accepted a nearly $8 million advance from Infrastructure of Siberia, an En+ energy-group unit, under a Dec. 29, 2023 mining-equipment contract, then neither delivered nor refunded the order.
They contend Runets never intended to perform, an allegation that remains unproven. The public Moscow court record reviewed by The Coinformer still showed only his earlier, separate tax case.
The billion-ruble catch
The Coinformer's review of a July 24, 2025 appeals ruling found that the civil claim combined the nearly $8 million principal with $1.3 million in late-delivery penalties.
- The contract called for Antminer S19k Pro computers totaling at least 428,100 TH/s. At the specified rating, that works out to roughly 3,600-3,700 machines.
Fox argued that it had handed over 400 different MicroBT M50 machines at another site on April 2, 2024. Those represented 47,200 terahashes per second, or about 11% of the promised capacity.
But the court found no buyer-signed transfer documents, noted that the location differed from the contract and said messages about setup and repairs didn't connect the machines to the order.
- A civil debt ruling, though, doesn't itself prove fraudulent intent from the outset.
From partner to creditor
En+ and BitRiver announced the Bit+ joint venture in November 2020, starting with 10 MW and planning to reach 40. Fox later entered bankruptcy monitoring after enforcement officers found insufficient assets to satisfy the equipment judgment.
BitRiver's website still claims 15 data centers, 533 megawatts of capacity and 175,000 mining machines, while its main Russian unit reported about $111 million in 2024 revenue.
Yet, Russian newspaper Kommersant reported that roughly 80% of its senior managers had left by late 2025. An HSE University research center previously estimated that BitRiver controlled more than half of Russia's industrial Bitcoin mining market.