BitRiver CEO arrested for alleged tax concealment: Reports

The founder and CEO of Russian Bitcoin mining firm BitRiver, Igor Runets, has reportedly been detained and charged with multiple counts of tax evasion. 

According to reports from local media outlets such as RBK and Kommersant on Sunday, Runets was detained on Friday and is facing three charges for allegedly concealing assets to evade taxes.

The outlets cite court documents from the Zamoskvoretsky Court of Moscow indicating that Runets was charged on Saturday and ordered to be placed under house arrest the same day. 

Runets’ legal team now has a small window to appeal the house arrest before it becomes fully enforceable on Wednesday. If an appeal is unsuccessful or not filed, Runets will remain home-bound for the entirety of the case. 

Cointelegraph has reached out to Runets for comment. 

CEO Igor Runets speaking at the Russian-Arab Business Council Forum in 2020. Source: Igor Runets

BitRiver was founded in 2017 and has become one of the biggest names in Russian Bitcoin mining, operating large-scale data centers across Siberia that also provide crypto mining services to other companies. 

In late 2024, Bloomberg reported that Runets’ net worth had hit around $230 million from his involvement in crypto mining.  

Issues piling up for BitRiver

The firm has faced several challenges since it was first hit with sanctions by the US Treasury Department in mid-2022 in response to the Russia and Ukraine conflict. 

In May 2023, one of its major clients, the Japanese banking giant SBI, stopped using the firm’s infrastructure for Bitcoin mining after withdrawing from Russia due to the ongoing conflict. 

The Kommersant report claims that BitRiver began cost cuts across the company and scaled back operations towards the end of 2024, followed by delayed salary payments to employees. 

In early 2025, the firm was hit with two lawsuits by the electricity provider Infrastructure of Siberia, alleging that it had paid BitRiver under a contract to purchase equipment but never received it.