A Moscow court has ordered BitRiver founder Igor Runets transferred from house arrest to a pretrial detention center, escalating the legal pressure on the founder of what was once Russia's largest crypto mining operation.
Runets faces charges of "large-scale" fraud after investigators alleged he caused damages exceeding 1 billion rubles (approximately $12.5 million) by failing to deliver on an equipment supply contract worth $8 million with Infrastructure of Siberia, a subsidiary of En+, a multibillion-dollar industrial conglomerate that produces roughly 5% of the world's aluminum and manages digital infrastructure projects including crypto mining.
Mounting Legal Pressure
The contract was reportedly signed in 2023. Investigators say the equipment was never delivered, and the damages claim covers both the contract value and associated costs.
Runets was previously charged with tax evasion in a separate proceeding. The escalation from house arrest to pretrial detention suggests the court considers him a flight risk or believes the severity of the charges warrants stricter confinement.
BitRiver's Declining Fortunes
The case comes as BitRiver faces mounting pressure from multiple fronts. A six-year regional ban on crypto mining has destabilized the company's once-expansive Siberian data center operations, and insolvency proceedings have further eroded its position.
BitRiver was previously one of the most prominent crypto mining infrastructure companies in Russia, operating large-scale data centers across Siberia that leveraged the region's abundant hydropower and cold climate. The broader crypto mining and exchange industry has been contracting, with multiple firms shutting down or restructuring as trading volumes decline and regulatory pressure intensifies globally.
