Russia’s Tax Agency Forces BitRiver Subsidiary into Bankruptcy Proceedings
Moscow's taxman just pulled the plug.
A major subsidiary of BitRiver—one of Russia's largest crypto mining players—is now staring down a formal bankruptcy process initiated by the Federal Tax Service. The move sends a stark signal about the regulatory climate for digital asset operations within the country's borders.
The Hammer Drops
This isn't a minor audit or a warning letter. Filing for bankruptcy on behalf of a company is the fiscal equivalent of a knockout punch. It suggests accumulated, unresolved liabilities—likely tax debts—that the state has decided to collect by force, dismantling the corporate entity in the process.
For BitRiver, which has positioned itself as a critical infrastructure hub for mining, the targeting of a subsidiary creates immediate operational and reputational fog. It raises questions about asset security, continuity of service, and the potential for contagion to other parts of the business.
Reading the Kremlin's Ledger
Why now? The action fits a broader, global pattern of states scrambling to assert sovereignty over the crypto economy—usually through taxation and enforcement. In Russia, it's a high-profile test case. The message is clear: operate here, you pay here. The 'how' is still being written, often with blunt instruments.
It also highlights the perennial crypto-industry tightrope: building capital-intensive physical infrastructure (like mining farms) within jurisdictions that can change the rules—or seize the assets—overnight. A costly reminder that not all risk is priced in hash rate.
The Ripple Effect
Watch the fallout. Other mining ops in the region will be recalibrating their compliance posture instantly. International partners and clients are now assessing counterparty risk. And the global mining map might see another slight shift, as uncertainty becomes a tangible business cost—proving once again that in the quest for cheap energy, the regulatory bill can be the one that finally breaks the bank. A classic case of the state being the ultimate venture capitalist—and debt collector—all in one.
BitRiver company faces bankruptcy procedures in Buryatia
The Federal Tax Service of Russia, FNS, has filed a bankruptcy petition against the BitRiver-B entity, part of the crypto mining group BitRiver, in the Arbitration Court of the Republic of Buryatia, media reports unveiled.
A failed multimillion-dollar investment of the mining behemoth in the region is at the heart of the case. Some say it is the mistake that led to the company’s financial strains and subsequent problems with the state, including the recent arrest of its CEO.
According to the regional news outlet “Number One,” which first spotted the court filing, the project to construct the 100 MW data processing center (DPC) in the Mukhorshibirsky District of the Far Eastern territory was first announced in 2020.
The local subsidiary, incorporated in the rural administrative center Mukhorshibir with a registered capital of 100,000 rubles, was established to implement the ambitious project, initiated by BitRiver founder and chief executive Igor Runets himself.
Construction began in 2022, with a planned launch in the second half of 2024 that never materialized. By February 2024, BitRiver had invested 1.4 billion rubles (over $18 million) in the facility, according to the business news portal RBC.
The site was intended to house powerful equipment for big data processing, digital currency mining, and cloud computing, and was supposed to create 100 jobs in the area. However, the project’s realization coincided with expanding restrictions on coin minting in this part of Siberia.
In the spring of 2025, the DPC was reportedly ready to commence operations but as a facility repurposed to serve the needs of artificial intelligence (AI) applications. In January of 2026, Russian authorities imposed a full ban on bitcoin mining in Buryatia for the next five years.
Failed mining project blamed for BitRiver’s troubles
Sources familiar with these developments claim the failure of the data center project in Buryatia dealt a major blow to the Russian mining giant.
Quoted by RBC, they said the group could never recover and was eventually forced to halt mining operations at other places as well.
That happened amid mass employee departures and mounting lawsuits filed by contractors and energy suppliers against its entities.
BitRiver was established in 2017 and has since become Russia’s largest operator of crypto mining farms and the country’s leading importer of mining hardware.
Founder Igor Runets was accused of tax evasion at the end of January, detained and placed under house arrest. One of the demands of Russian prosecutors was that his firms pay due salaries.
Russian media reports in the following weeks detailed a tax-dodging scheme allegedly implemented by mining enterprises in the country.
Commenting on the BitRiver case, the chairman of the parliamentary Energy Committee, Nikolai Shulginov, accused Russian miners of hiding crypto-related income by officially using the same equipment to provide other services that need computing devices.
Russia legalized the minting of digital coins in 2024, requiring those engaged in the activity to register with the FNS and pay due taxes. However, only a third of known mining businesses have done that so far, according to government estimates.
BitRiver’s revenue for that year exceeded 10 billion rubles (about $130 million), helping the group top Russian rankings of mining companies in 2025, ahead of Intelion Data, which recently secured Russia’s first loan using cryptocurrency as collateral.
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