Russian Bitcoin mining firms sit on the verge of a precipice, an expert says, following the dramatic downfall of BitRiver, the country’s biggest industrial miner.
This week, the mining giant was plunged into crisis, with reports that its rigs have been shut down, its staff reportedly unpaid for three months, and its founder, Igor Runets, placed under house arrest as part of a tax evasion probe.
BitRiver’s crisis “is a sign that major mining players are finding it increasingly difficult to operate without clear rules and sustainable corporate models,” Mikhail Smirnov, director of communications at the crypto exchange EXMO, told Russian newspaper Vedomosti.
“The outflow of participants, especially weak ones,” could intensify in the near future, he said.
BitRiver operates more than 175,000 crypto mining rigs and provides other services to businesses. In 2025, the firm posted revenues of over $133 million and used 533 megawatts of electricity across 15 data centres.
The news is a body blow to Russia’s Bitcoin mining industry, which has drawn investment from corporate backers in recent months. In 2025, Russian miners produced approximately 26,000 Bitcoin, worth around $2 billion, bringing their total capacity to 11 GW.
Tax evasion scheme
Runets, who founded BitRiver in Irkutsk, Siberia, in 2017, is considered the godfather of Russian Bitcoin mining. The region has since become the de facto capital of the country’s Bitcoin mining industry.
Prosecutors suspect Runets of operating a tax evasion scheme that allowed several companies to reduce their tax payments by claiming they had made payments for computing services and data centre infrastructure, the Russian media outlet RBC reported.
Investigators reportedly believe BitRiver clients transferred money to the mining company, claiming they were paying for ASIC Bitcoin mining rigs.
In reality, these companies did not receive any mining equipment and instead used the fictional purchases to claim non-existent expenses on tax declarations.
