diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index aed5f26..8d28028 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -10,8 +10,11 @@
     <packaging>jar</packaging>
 
     <properties>
-        <maven.compiler.source>1.10</maven.compiler.source>
-        <maven.compiler.target>1.10</maven.compiler.target>
+        <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
+        <java.version>21</java.version>
+        <maven.compiler.source>21</maven.compiler.source>
+        <maven.compiler.target>21</maven.compiler.target>
+        <buildDirectory>${project.basedir}/target</buildDirectory>
     </properties>
 
     <!-- *************************************** BUILDING *************************************** -->
diff --git a/src/com/oltpbenchmark/CommandLineOptions.java b/src/com/oltpbenchmark/CommandLineOptions.java
index 4f70fde..44b4743 100644
--- a/src/com/oltpbenchmark/CommandLineOptions.java
+++ b/src/com/oltpbenchmark/CommandLineOptions.java
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ public class CommandLineOptions {
         COMMAND_LINE_OPTS.addOption(null, "merge-json-results", true, "Merge results from various json output files");
         COMMAND_LINE_OPTS.addOption(null, "dir", true, "Directory containing the csv files");
         COMMAND_LINE_OPTS.addOption(null, "vv", false, "Output verbose execute results");
+        COMMAND_LINE_OPTS.addOption(null, "vt", false, "Use Virtual threads");
     }
 
     public CommandLineOptions() {}
@@ -175,6 +176,10 @@ public Optional<Integer> getInitialDelaySeconds() {
         return getIntOpt("initial-delay-secs");
     }
 
+    public boolean getUseVirtualThreads() {
+        return argsLine.hasOption("vt");
+    }
+
     public boolean getIsCreateSqlProceduresSet() {
         return isBooleanOptionSet("create-sql-procedures");
     }
diff --git a/src/com/oltpbenchmark/DBWorkload.java b/src/com/oltpbenchmark/DBWorkload.java
index 9fc5a06..cece60b 100644
--- a/src/com/oltpbenchmark/DBWorkload.java
+++ b/src/com/oltpbenchmark/DBWorkload.java
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ public class DBWorkload {
   private static int warmupTime = 0;
   private static final Map<Integer, String> transactionTypes = new HashMap<>();
   private static JsonMetricsHelper jsonMetricsHelper = new JsonMetricsHelper();
-
+  private static Boolean useVirtualThreads = false;
   /**
    * Returns true if asserts are enabled. This assumes that
    * we're always using the default system ClassLoader
@@ -88,6 +88,9 @@ public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
     transactionTypes.put(5, "StockLevel");
 
     numWarehouses = options.getWarehouses().orElse(numWarehouses);
+    if(options.getUseVirtualThreads()) {
+      useVirtualThreads = true;
+    }
 
     String configFile = options.getConfigFile().orElse("config/workload_all.xml");
     ConfigFileOptions configOptions = new ConfigFileOptions(configFile);
@@ -482,7 +485,7 @@ private static Results runWorkload(List<BenchmarkModule> benchList, int interval
               bench.getBenchmarkName().toUpperCase(), num_phases, (num_phases > 1 ? "s" : "")));
       workConfs.add(bench.getWorkloadConfiguration());
     }
-    Results r = ThreadBench.runRateLimitedBenchmark(workers, workConfs, intervalMonitor);
+    Results r = ThreadBench.runRateLimitedBenchmark(workers, workConfs, intervalMonitor, useVirtualThreads);
     r.startTime = start;
     r.endTime = end;
 
diff --git a/src/com/oltpbenchmark/ThreadBench.java b/src/com/oltpbenchmark/ThreadBench.java
index fa8b87c..7da407a 100644
--- a/src/com/oltpbenchmark/ThreadBench.java
+++ b/src/com/oltpbenchmark/ThreadBench.java
@@ -46,12 +46,14 @@ public class ThreadBench implements Thread.UncaughtExceptionHandler {
   private final List<WorkloadState> workStates;
   final ArrayList<TransactionLatencyRecord.Sample> samples = new ArrayList<>();
   private int intervalMonitor = 0;
+  private boolean useVirtualThreads = false;
 
-  public ThreadBench(List<? extends Worker> workers, List<WorkloadConfiguration> workConfs) {
+  public ThreadBench(List<? extends Worker> workers, List<WorkloadConfiguration> workConfs, boolean useVirtualThreads) {
       this.workers = workers;
       this.workConfs = workConfs;
       this.workerThreads = new ArrayList<>(workers.size());
       this.workStates = new ArrayList<>();
+      this.useVirtualThreads = useVirtualThreads;
   }
 
   public static final class TimeBucketIterable implements Iterable<DistributionStatistics> {
@@ -162,13 +164,25 @@ public void remove() {
   }
 
   private void createWorkerThreads() {
-      for (Worker worker : workers) {
-          worker.initializeState();
-          Thread thread = new Thread(worker);
-          thread.setUncaughtExceptionHandler(this);
-          thread.start();
-          this.workerThreads.add(thread);
-      }
+    if(useVirtualThreads) {
+      LOG.info("creating virtual threads as workers...");
+    }
+    else {
+      LOG.info("creating real threads as workers...");
+    }
+    for (Worker worker : workers) {
+        worker.initializeState();
+        Thread thread;
+        if(useVirtualThreads) {
+          thread = Thread.ofVirtual().unstarted(worker);
+        }
+        else{
+          thread = new Thread(worker);
+        }
+        thread.setUncaughtExceptionHandler(this);
+        thread.start();
+        this.workerThreads.add(thread);
+    }
   }
 
   private void interruptWorkers() {
@@ -276,8 +290,8 @@ public void run() {
       }
   } // CLASS
 
-  public static Results runRateLimitedBenchmark(List<Worker> workers, List<WorkloadConfiguration> workConfs, int intervalMonitoring) {
-      ThreadBench bench = new ThreadBench(workers, workConfs);
+  public static Results runRateLimitedBenchmark(List<Worker> workers, List<WorkloadConfiguration> workConfs, int intervalMonitoring, boolean useVirtualThreads) {
+      ThreadBench bench = new ThreadBench(workers, workConfs, useVirtualThreads);
       bench.intervalMonitor = intervalMonitoring;
       return bench.runRateLimitedMultiPhase();
   }