Igor Runets, BitRiver’s founder and chief executive, was reportedly placed under house arrest on tax evasion charges after a Moscow district court issued a ruling last week.
Proceedings that would evaluate BitRiver were initiated by the Arbitration Court of Sverdlovsk Oblast, which on January 27 opened bankruptcy observation against Group of Companies Fox, which owns 98% of BitRiver’s authorized capital.
The subsidiary reportedly paid BitRiver more than $9.2 million (700 million rubles) in advance under an equipment supply contract that was later terminated after the equipment was not delivered. Enforcement proceedings failed to recover the assets under claim, per the report.
Court documents cited were not immediately available for public review. Decrypt has reached out to BitRiver and relevant Russian authorities for confirmation and comment.
As part of the dispute, accounts linked to BitRiver companies were reportedly frozen, a move that could paralyze an already deteriorating business marred by sanctions.
By late 2025, other BitRiver entities had deteriorated to the point where it failed to produce required documents for lawsuits properly.
Court notices to BitRiver addresses were returned unclaimed after seven days, though the company had submitted some documents back in December.
These dysfunctions are consistent with local reporting of mass executive departures and office closures from the company. Its social media accounts have remained inactive since early 2022.
BitRiver has been under U.S. sanctions since 2022, Decrypt previously reported.
BitRiver and ten Russia-based subsidiaries of its Switzerland-based holding company BitRiver AG were added to the Specially Designated Nationals list as part of sanctions following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The federal agency said the business model relied on Russia’s access to cheap energy and cold climate, while remaining vulnerable to sanctions because of its dependence on imported equipment and fiat payment channels.
