The expert commented on En+'s lawsuits against BitRiver for 1.2 billion rubles

En+ structures are suing the Russian data center operator BitRiver, demanding over 1.21 billion rubles in two lawsuits. This was reported by "Kommersant."

At the end of April, the Arbitration Court of the Irkutsk Region satisfied the claim of "Infrastructure of Siberia" ( against En+) for the recovery of 954.4 million rubles from the GC "Fox", which owns 49% of Bitriver Management Company. As part of the dispute, the respondent's funds and equipment have been seized without the possibility of use. It is pledged in favor of the plaintiff to ensure the fulfillment of supply obligations.

Another structure of En+ — "Bit+" — requires from "Bitriver Rus" 256.7 million rubles. Within this amount, the defendant's accounts have also been seized. According to the Federal Tax Service, operations on the accounts of "Bitriver Rus" and LLC "Stroiservis Plus", which owns 49% of the management company "Bitriver", have been suspended.

In the registry of legally significant information, a publication by the collection agency "Aidi Collect" appeared in April regarding the intention to file for bankruptcy for "Stroysервис Plus."

Essence of Claims

BitRiver owns 15 data centers with a total capacity of over 533 MW, housing more than 175,000 units of equipment.

In 2020, En+ Group and BitRiver created a joint venture "Bit+". The first was responsible for the supply of electricity to the site in Bratsk, the second was engaged in its operational management. According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, BitRiver withdrew from the project in April 2025, transferring 20% to the En+ structure. The latter became the sole founder of Bit+.

As explained in "Infrastructure of Siberia", they entered into a contract with the GC "Fox" for the supply of equipment and made a preliminary payment for the goods. Not receiving the devices, they terminated the deal and demanded the return of the advance payment and sought penalties for the delay through the court.

BitRiver Position

The owner and CEO of BitRiver, Igor Runets, claims that the equipment has been delivered and the GC "Fox" is appealing the court's decision. According to him, one of the episodes of the dispute with En+ concerns the shutdown of BitRiver's mining data centers in December of last year in the northern Irkutsk region.

"Today they are operating normally, but the outages in December caused significant losses to several companies in the group, including 'Bitriver Rus' and 'Stroyservice Plus', which we also plan to recover from En+ through legal action," said Runets.

In addition, the FAS is conducting an investigation into signs of violations of the competition law by the Irkutsk Electric Grid Company, which is part of En+.

According to sources cited by "Kommersant", BitRiver should have the funds to pay the full amount of the claims. In 2024, the revenue of "Bitriver Rus" increased by 9.9%, reaching 10.28 billion rubles, and net profit rose by 71.1%, amounting to 202.21 million rubles. According to BitRiver, the total revenue of the group in 2024 exceeded 17 billion rubles.

Igor Runets emphasized that BitRiver's financial position is stable and all the installed equipment in the data centers is operational. No security measures are being applied to the GC "Fox", and "Stroysservice Plus" also continues its operational activities and is not experiencing difficulties, he added.

Threat to Scalability

In a comment to ForkLog, the CEO and co-owner of the Argentine data center operator Dimalessi S.R.L., Roman Zabuga, stated that the claims of energy companies may be quite justified, but "until En+, all similar conflicts have been resolved peacefully."

According to him, Oleg Deripaska's structures are the main energy partner of BitRiver.

"It is unlikely that En+'s exit from partnerships means that the operator will lose all business in the country. However, it is quite likely that scaling the business in such partnerships will no longer be possible for the largest mining infrastructure operator in Russia," noted Zabuga.

He emphasized that the previously announced construction of a data center with the RDIF in the BRICS countries is "unfeasible" because, due to US sanctions, the BitRiver group of companies is in the "black" lists of most countries.

"Options outside of Russia — Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Vietnam, and Mongolia. The latter suggests supplies of eco-fuel (hydrogen, methane) to Europe, where German structures are working intensively. Whether there will be room for the sanctions company there is a big question," says Zabuga.

Despite the fact that En+ was purchasing mining equipment, neither it nor the companies affiliated with it are allowed to mine, the expert added.

According to the law on mining adopted in the Russian Federation, combining cryptocurrency mining with activities in the electric power sector is not allowed.

"Further questions arise, the answers to which may lead to conspiracy theories regarding the nationalization of business. And this is not good for BitRiver, nor for other market participants," concluded Zabuga.

Recall that in April 2022, the US Treasury imposed sanctions against the BitRiver group of companies. It was reported that this way, the American authorities prevented the potential circumvention of sanctions by Russia through mining.

Soon, the cooperation with the Russian data center operator was terminated by the Japanese SBI Holdings, the parent company of the miner SBI Crypto.

From January 2023 to early October 2024, BitRiver, in collaboration with oil and gas companies, processed over 150 million cubic meters of associated petroleum gas (APG) into electricity for bitcoin mining.

The operator stated about the possibilities for the Russian Federation to displace the USA from the position of leader in Bitcoin mining due to its own generation and the use of PNG.