PSB Bank, one of Russia's largest lenders, has filed a bankruptcy petition against Igor Runets, the founder and chief executive officer of BitRiver, the country's largest cryptocurrency mining company. The bank's claims against the entrepreneur exceed $9 million.

The petition was submitted to the Arbitration Court of Sverdlovsk Oblast on November 3, according to TASS, Russia's official state news agency, which reported the development on Wednesday. Citing the filing in the registry of arbitration cases, the business news portal RBC reported that the bank's claims exceed 770 million rubles, or almost $9.3 million. A decision by the court on whether to accept the petition and open formal proceedings against Runets personally will mark the next procedural step in the case.

The bankruptcy filing adds to Runets' mounting legal troubles. The 40-year-old was detained in Moscow at the end of January 2026 on suspicion of tax evasion and initially placed under house arrest, as previously reported by Cryptopolitan. In July, he was additionally charged with large-scale fraud carrying damages of $12 million.

Russia's largest crypto miner

BitRiver is engaged in the industrial mining of digital currencies and ranks as the largest crypto mining firm in the Russian Federation. Companies within the group provide services including connection, hosting, and maintenance of mining equipment at their data processing centers.

Two years ago, BitRiver operated 15 such facilities with a combined capacity of 533 MW, and its data centers hosted 175,000 hardware units at the time. Although headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, the company's main operations were based in Russian regions offering low-cost energy and cool climatic conditions, such as Siberia.

Runets, who was born in Odessa, Ukraine, established BitRiver in 2017. In the fall of 2024, his net worth was estimated at $230 million.

Bankruptcy proceedings widen

The petition against Runets coincides with formal bankruptcy monitoring that Russian authorities have launched against BitRiver entities, which held the leading position in the country's growing mining sector — the first crypto industry to be legalized in Russia, under legislation that took effect on November 1, 2024 and now requires large-scale miners to report their activity to the tax authorities.

In February, the Federal Tax Service (FNS) filed a bankruptcy petition against the BitRiver-B subsidiary in the Republic of Buryatia, citing 3.6 million rubles (nearly $44,000) in outstanding debt, as Bits.media recalled in a post.

Fraud case tied to failed equipment delivery

In July, Runets was charged with large-scale fraud over the failed delivery of crypto mining hardware and transferred to a permanent detention facility, as previously reported by Cryptopolitan.

The mining equipment had been ordered by companies from En+ Holding, the large energy and metals producer founded and still controlled by the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. Bankruptcy procedures against the Fox group, BitRiver's owner, had already been initiated at the request of Infrastructure of Siberia, an entity within the En+ holding, which accused the miner of failing to fulfill its contractual obligations. The Arbitration Court of the Sverdlovsk region deemed the creditor's claims valid and declared the company bankrupt.

Sources familiar with the investigation told RBC that Fox was supposed to supply mining equipment worth more than $8 million and had been paid the bulk of that sum. The buyer received neither the promised hardware nor a refund, and its total damages from the deal amounted to nearly 1 billion rubles, or more than $12 million.

Investigators are convinced that Runets never intended to fulfill the contract or return the prepayment, and that BitRiver's chief executive instead used the funds for other purposes.

Fox had also accumulated an estimated debt of more than $9 million and was unable to secure sufficient funds to pay it off. In addition, the group and En+ established a joint venture called Bit+ in 2019 to engage in cryptocurrency mining together, but Fox withdrew from the project.

An interim manager appointed by the court to seek solutions for BitRiver, including through a change of ownership, has reportedly alleged that the company's bankruptcy may have been intentional.

Many participants in the still-unfolding saga have been targeted by Western sanctions imposed over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, including PSB, formerly known as Promsvyazbank and now a state-controlled lender designated to serve Russia's defense sector, and BitRiver itself.