Igor Runets, founder and CEO of Bitcoin miner operator BitRiver, was detained Jan. 30 and charged with three counts of allegedly concealing assets to evade taxes. The Zamoskvoretsky Court ordered house arrest on Jan. 31; his legal team has an appeal window before the order is enforceable on Feb. 4. BitRiver — founded 2017 and a major operator of large-scale Siberian crypto-mining data centers — has faced US sanctions since 2022, client withdrawals (including SBI in 2023), cost cuts and delayed salaries in late 2024, and lawsuits from electricity provider Infrastructure of Siberia in early 2025. Bloomberg estimated Runets' net worth at about $230 million in late 2024. Cointelegraph sought comment.

Runets' detention and house-arrest order on tax-evasion charges directly raises management and operational risk for BitRiver; the company already has a history of US sanctions, client withdrawals, cost cuts, delayed salaries and ongoing lawsuits — facts that increase downside risk but are specific to one operator, limiting broad market impact.