BitRiver Founder Detained Over $10M Mining Equipment Scandal
A Moscow court has ordered the detention of BitRiver founder Igor Runets for two months over allegations of $10 million in mining equipment that never arrived.
The case centers on nearly 1 billion rubles, roughly $10 million, in advance payments received by a company controlled by Runets from an En+ subsidiary, which is tied to sanctioned oligarch Oleg Deripaska, for mining hardware. The firm claims it delivered nothing and kept the money.
The detention of BitRiver's founder escalates concerns about the reliability of Russian crypto miners, particularly in the wake of U.S. sanctions and reputational damage from internal fraud allegations.
BitRiver has been described as Russia's largest crypto-mining operator by revenue, making the detention a significant market concern for institutions that have been gradually eyeing Russia's hash rate potential.