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The Russian tax authority has filed for bankruptcy proceedings against BitRiver Group’s company., 2026/02/20 10:40:29
The Federal Tax Service of Russia (FTS) has submitted a bankruptcy petition to the Arbitration Court of Buryatia concerning the mining firm “Bitriver-B,” which is part of the major miner BitRiver.
The petition cites a debt amounting to 3.6 million rubles. According to the bailiff service, there are already over ten enforcement proceedings initiated against the company, totaling more than 1.3 million rubles.
The company “Bitriver-B” was established to implement a project for constructing a data center with a capacity of 100 MW in the Mukhorshibirsky district of Buryatia. This project was announced back in 2020, initiated by Igor Runets, the founder and CEO of BitRiver. In the same year, a land plot of 5.5 hectares was leased to the company in Mukhorshibir without a bidding process.
Initially, the plan included the construction of a data processing center (DPC) and a transformer substation. The DPC was intended to house equipment for blockchain operations, the Internet of Things, and cloud services. BitRiver invested approximately 1.4 billion rubles into the DPC’s construction. The project was carried out with the support of the Far East and Arctic Development Corporation.
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Construction commenced in 2022, with a launch anticipated in the second half of 2024; however, no official announcement regarding the commissioning of the facility has been made. In the spring of 2025, it was reported that the facility was ready and being repurposed for artificial intelligence tasks. At that time, the Buryatia government informed regulators that legal mining activities in the region were effectively nonexistent, and the company “Rosseti” stated that the technological connection of the DPC could only occur by 2030.
According to sources familiar with the situation, the inability to launch the facility has significantly impacted the BitRiver group. The company has experienced employee turnover, halted mining operations at several sites, and faced lawsuits from counterparties and energy companies.
Russian State Duma Deputy Sergey Altukhov noted that miners operating through BitRiver may need to relocate their equipment to other data centers—either within Russia or abroad—or sell it off.
He assessed that the challenges faced by large operators could accelerate market consolidation: some smaller players may be absorbed, while others might exit the industry. At the same time, he acknowledged the possibility of business restructuring or support measures considering the state’s strategic interest in the development of mining.
Previously, the Arbitration Court of the Sverdlovsk region ruled to initiate monitoring procedures against the “Fox” group, which owns 98% of BitRiver. The group’s debts are estimated at $9.2 million.
