Key points
- Using crypto or meme coins to bet on or profit from in-game item prices is banned “in any of our products”.
- Jagex calls it a form of real-world trading because it ties real money to its economies.
- Zero tolerance: penalties scale with suspected intent, and Jagex alone decides what counts as manipulation.
- It builds on Jagex’s September 2025 move to ban gold buyers, even for a first offense.
What Jagex announced
In a news post dated September 14, 2026, Jagex said: “Using cryptocurrency or meme coins to trade against, bet on, or profit from the price of in-game items in any of our products is not permitted.” The rule also covers manipulating item prices for any real-world gain.
The post targets coins that “tie themselves to the price or volume of items” in Jagex’s games. Jagex explained why it treats them as RWT: “When real-world currency is linked to in-game item prices, real money starts to influence our economies... We consider this a form of real-world trading.” It says such schemes encourage market manipulation and can be used to launder gold that was traded before.
How strict is it?
“We are taking a zero-tolerance approach,” the post says. “Anyone found engaging in this kind of market manipulation will have action taken against their accounts.” Jagex reserves the decision for itself: whether an activity is malicious manipulation is “at Jagex’s sole discretion”, and penalties are proportionate to the suspected intent, which means accounts can be actioned even for effects their owners did not intend.
Part of a longer crackdown
This is the second big real-world trading statement from Jagex in a year. On September 16, 2025, it said it was taking “a harsher line against players caught buying gold”, with temporary or permanent bans “even for first offenses” and confiscation of items. The new rule closes a route that sidesteps buying gold directly while still putting real money on the economy.
What it means for buyers
Jagex now treats almost any link between real money and its economies as RWT, and it bans gold buyers on a first offense. Stay away from “investment” schemes, tokens or betting sites built around OSRS item prices. If you buy gold anyway, understand that the account doing the buying is the one at risk, and compare sellers on our OSRS and RuneScape 3 pages before you do.
Sources
- Jagex: our stance on cryptocurrency and market manipulationSep 14, 2026
- Massively OP: OSRS takes a zero-tolerance stanceSep 15, 2026
- Jagex: a message about real world tradingSep 16, 2025
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