- Trending
- Comments
- Latest
A Russian arbitration court has placed GC Fox, the parent company that owns 98% of crypto mining operator BitRiver, under bankruptcy supervision following a $9.2 million claim from energy subsidiary Infrastructure of Siberia, according to filings in Sverdlovsk Arbitration Court.
The move follows mounting legal claims, operational shutdowns, and regulatory pressure that have steadily weakened BitRiver’s position in Russia’s digital asset economy.
The supervisory procedure was launched by the Sverdlovsk Arbitration Court after it accepted a bankruptcy petition against GC Fox, which owns 98% of BitRiver. The action stems from a financial dispute involving Infrastructure of Siberia, a subsidiary of energy conglomerate En+, which filed a claim worth $9.2 million over undelivered mining equipment and unpaid contractual penalties.
Court enforcement proceedings reportedly revealed that GC Fox lacked sufficient assets to satisfy the claim, triggering formal insolvency oversight.
The development marks a dramatic reversal for BitRiver, once regarded as the backbone of Russia’s industrial crypto mining industry and a flagship crypto mining operator serving both domestic and international clients.
The bankruptcy supervision places BitRiver’s ownership structure under scrutiny at a time when creditors and investors are reassessing the company’s long-term viability.
According to reporting by Kommersant, the court’s acceptance of the petition opens the door to potential restructuring or transfer of ownership, depending on whether creditors can agree on a recovery plan.
GC Fox’s dominant stake in BitRiver means that any insolvency outcome at the parent level could directly affect operational control of the mining business.
Analysts note that bankruptcy supervision does not automatically imply liquidation, but it significantly limits management flexibility and exposes the firm to creditor-led intervention.
For Russia’s crypto sector, the case highlights how quickly a major crypto mining operator can become vulnerable when legal disputes coincide with regulatory shifts and capital constraints.
BitRiver’s financial troubles have been compounded by a wave of operational disruptions across multiple Russian regions. The company operates more than 15 data centres with a combined capacity exceeding 533 megawatts and hosts over 175,000 mining rigs. However, a large share of this infrastructure is currently idle.
Facilities in Irkutsk and Buryatia regions that once formed the core of BitRiver’s low-cost power strategy have been shut down following regional bans on cryptocurrency mining.
In Ingushetia, a BitRiver site was forcibly closed despite reportedly having prior authorization to operate, underscoring the fragmented and unpredictable regulatory environment facing any crypto mining operator in Russia.
Partnerships have also frayed. Joint mining sites with Gazprom Neft were closed after power supply contracts were terminated, while disputes with electricity providers over tariffs and payment schedules further strained the company’s cash flow. These challenges reportedly led to office closures and widespread internal restructuring.
By late 2025, around 80% of BitRiver’s senior management team had departed. Founder Igor Runets is currently under house arrest on allegations of tax evasion, adding legal uncertainty at a moment when leadership stability is critical for a large-scale crypto mining operator navigating insolvency proceedings.
Despite BitRiver’s difficulties, industry observers caution against interpreting the case as a collapse of Russian crypto mining as a whole. At its peak, BitRiver was estimated to account for more than half of Russia’s industrial mining activity, making its struggles significant but not necessarily fatal for the sector.
Analysts argue that the company’s remaining assets data centres, grid connections, and mining infrastructure retain substantial value.
Reports indicate that investors and creditors are already negotiating potential acquisitions of BitRiver’s operational facilities, a process that could redistribute mining capacity among smaller or newly formed entities and reshape the competitive landscape for any future crypto mining operator in Russia.
Longer-term forecasts remain cautiously optimistic. Industry projections suggest that demand for data centres and mining infrastructure in Russia could grow by 30% to 35% annually through 2030, driven by global hash rate competition and Russia’s surplus energy resources.
This outlook implies that, even as BitRiver falters, capital interest in crypto infrastructure is unlikely to disappear.
The broader regional context is also evolving. In a separate development, Turkmenistan formally legalized cryptocurrency mining and trading after President Serdar Berdimuhamedov approved the “Law of Turkmenistan on Virtual Assets” in late November 2025.
The law, which took effect on January 1, 2026, signals a more permissive regulatory stance in Central Asia and could attract displaced mining activity from neighboring countries.
For Russia, BitRiver’s crisis serves as a case study in how regulatory uncertainty, energy politics, and legal disputes can converge to destabilize even the largest crypto mining operator.
Whether the company survives through restructuring or asset sales, its trajectory is likely to influence policy debates and investment strategies across the Eurasian crypto mining landscape.
