[Guangzhou Court Ruling: Virtual Currency Loan Contracts Are Invalid, Borrower Must Compensate for Cost Losses] According to Guangzhou Daily, the Guangdong Provincial High People's Court released the top ten commercial and financial cases of 2025, among which a ruling on a virtual currency loan dispute holds significant reference value. In July 2023, Chang borrowed 1 unit of virtual currency from Jin and issued an IOU, agreeing to repay on time and calculate repayment value based on the higher price, with overdue payments incurring a penalty interest rate of 24% per annum. Jin purchased 1.14 units of virtual currency for 228,200 yuan and delivered it, but Chang failed to repay on time. The Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court ruled that the clause in the IOU stating "based on the higher price" essentially guarantees the lender benefits from currency price fluctuations, which is invalid. After the contract was deemed invalid, the virtual currency could not be returned, and Chang was required to compensate for property losses. However, since virtual currency lacks a legal pricing mechanism, the losses were determined based on Jin's acquisition cost, which was 199,600 yuan per unit of virtual currency.