A man in Hebei Province, China was sentenced to five years and four months for illegally raising funds using the concept of "metaverse."

The High Court of Hebei Province, China, released typical cases of combating illegal fundraising. A man packaged an investment project with the concept of "metaverse" to promote the virtual goods investment project of the "Newmateworks" platform under the "Yishang United Community" to the public, inducing the public to participate in the investment. He directly introduced 19 investors who invested a total of 15.3936 million yuan, of which 1.1014 million yuan has been returned, while 14.2922 million yuan has not been returned. The court found that this case used emerging technology concepts such as "metaverse" as a cover to implement fraudulent marketing, violating national financial management laws and regulations, with a huge amount involved. The behavior constituted the crime of illegally absorbing public deposits, and he was sentenced to five years and four months in prison and fined.