diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index f33d51b32..dc20db6e2 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -12,9 +12,9 @@
 
     <properties>
         <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
-        <java.version>17</java.version>
-        <maven.compiler.source>17</maven.compiler.source>
-        <maven.compiler.target>17</maven.compiler.target>
+        <java.version>21</java.version>
+        <maven.compiler.source>21</maven.compiler.source>
+        <maven.compiler.target>21</maven.compiler.target>
         <buildDirectory>${project.basedir}/target</buildDirectory>
         <!--
             Provids a way to limit which assembly package formats we produce.
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/oltpbenchmark/DBWorkload.java b/src/main/java/com/oltpbenchmark/DBWorkload.java
index 15b05fddc..2e59a1aa3 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/oltpbenchmark/DBWorkload.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/oltpbenchmark/DBWorkload.java
@@ -87,6 +87,11 @@ public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
             intervalMonitor = Integer.parseInt(argsLine.getOptionValue("im"));
         }
 
+        Boolean useVirtualThreads = false;
+        if (argsLine.hasOption("vt")) {
+            useVirtualThreads = Boolean.parseBoolean(argsLine.getOptionValue("vt"));
+        }
+
         // -------------------------------------------------------------------
         // GET PLUGIN LIST
         // -------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -459,7 +464,7 @@ public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
         if (isBooleanOptionSet(argsLine, "execute")) {
             // Bombs away!
             try {
-                Results r = runWorkload(benchList, intervalMonitor);
+                Results r = runWorkload(benchList, intervalMonitor, useVirtualThreads);
                 writeOutputs(r, activeTXTypes, argsLine, xmlConfig);
                 writeHistograms(r);
 
@@ -631,7 +636,7 @@ private static void runLoader(BenchmarkModule bench) throws SQLException, Interr
         bench.loadDatabase();
     }
 
-    private static Results runWorkload(List<BenchmarkModule> benchList, int intervalMonitor) throws IOException {
+    private static Results runWorkload(List<BenchmarkModule> benchList, int intervalMonitor, Boolean useVirtualThreads) throws IOException {
         List<Worker<?>> workers = new ArrayList<>();
         List<WorkloadConfiguration> workConfs = new ArrayList<>();
         for (BenchmarkModule bench : benchList) {
@@ -643,7 +648,7 @@ private static Results runWorkload(List<BenchmarkModule> benchList, int interval
             workConfs.add(bench.getWorkloadConfiguration());
 
         }
-        Results r = ThreadBench.runRateLimitedBenchmark(workers, workConfs, intervalMonitor);
+        Results r = ThreadBench.runRateLimitedBenchmark(workers, workConfs, intervalMonitor, useVirtualThreads);
         LOG.info(SINGLE_LINE);
         LOG.info("Rate limited reqs/s: {}", r);
         return r;
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/oltpbenchmark/ThreadBench.java b/src/main/java/com/oltpbenchmark/ThreadBench.java
index a2e0cb666..e21ceeb73 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/oltpbenchmark/ThreadBench.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/oltpbenchmark/ThreadBench.java
@@ -38,19 +38,21 @@ public class ThreadBench implements Thread.UncaughtExceptionHandler {
     private final List<WorkloadConfiguration> workConfs;
     private final ArrayList<LatencyRecord.Sample> samples = new ArrayList<>();
     private final int intervalMonitor;
+    private final Boolean useVirtualThreads;
 
     private ThreadBench(List<? extends Worker<? extends BenchmarkModule>> workers,
-            List<WorkloadConfiguration> workConfs, int intervalMonitoring) {
+            List<WorkloadConfiguration> workConfs, int intervalMonitoring, Boolean useVirtualThreads) {
         this.workers = workers;
         this.workConfs = workConfs;
         this.workerThreads = new ArrayList<>(workers.size());
         this.intervalMonitor = intervalMonitoring;
         this.testState = new BenchmarkState(workers.size() + 1);
+        this.useVirtualThreads = useVirtualThreads;
     }
 
     public static Results runRateLimitedBenchmark(List<Worker<? extends BenchmarkModule>> workers,
-            List<WorkloadConfiguration> workConfs, int intervalMonitoring) {
-        ThreadBench bench = new ThreadBench(workers, workConfs, intervalMonitoring);
+            List<WorkloadConfiguration> workConfs, int intervalMonitoring, Boolean useVirtualThreads) {
+        ThreadBench bench = new ThreadBench(workers, workConfs, intervalMonitoring, useVirtualThreads);
         return bench.runRateLimitedMultiPhase();
     }
 
@@ -58,7 +60,14 @@ private void createWorkerThreads() {
 
         for (Worker<?> worker : workers) {
             worker.initializeState();
-            Thread thread = new Thread(worker);
+
+            Thread thread;
+            if (useVirtualThreads) {
+                thread = Thread.ofVirtual().unstarted(worker);
+            } else {
+                thread = new Thread(worker);
+            }
+
             thread.setUncaughtExceptionHandler(this);
             thread.start();
             this.workerThreads.add(thread);