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Complete adoption of blockchain technology can reform the fashion industry by making all the items and transactions traceable and add transparency to the supply chain management

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𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗕𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗪𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗕𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗶𝘁 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗶𝗮𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆?

With its amazing capability to track the source of diamonds, blockchain would be able to distinguish between mined diamonds and the synthetic diamonds grown in labs. This would be a major boon for the diamond ecosystem which is already pained by the distribution of fake diamonds within the diamond ecosystem.

Visit : https://www.diamanteblockchain.com

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There are millions of #cryptocurrency #wallet users, but there is a clear lack of understanding about the fundamentals of the #CryptoWallet. #Blockchain #Trending #technology #digitalassets Visit to know more.

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Why #Blockchain is the future of the #diamond #industry? Right from traceability to quality control, it promises to #secure the entire diamond ecosystem. Blockchain would help in filtering conflict diamonds out from the #trading #network. and implement strict quality control by detecting fake diamonds by tracing back their origin.

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Hashing is an essential aspect of blockchain technology, which involves in production of a series of texts by using a mathematical equation.

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What You Need to Know to Avoid Overpaying for Your Diamond

It’s no secret that diamonds, even the not so good ones, are expensive, and therefore most buyers decide upon a budget before even deciding the shape, size, and weight of a gem to purchase. The priority, however, remains to procure the best quality diamond that can be afforded within that budget.

Unfortunately, a lack of adequate knowledge of the basis of pricing diamonds leads to consumers overpaying for a diamond which possibly could be priced much lower than that displayed. For instance, a 1-carat diamond may cost as low as $2,000 and as high as $25,000. By common logic, a mid-range diamond should be available for $11,000 - $12,000. Contrary to this understanding, this would actually be overpaying because a good quality 1-carat diamond should cost about a much lesser $4,500 - $6,000.

STANDARD PRICE OF A DIAMOND:

The 2019 diamond pricing guideline shows:

A 0.5 carat diamond is $1,500

A 1.0 carat diamond is $4,500 - $6,000

A 2.0 carat diamond is $18,000 - $21,000

In a wide range of price, an ideal balance of price, quality, and aesthetic in a diamond generally lies in the above pricing points.

It is mainly the 4 C’s - carat, cut, color, and clarity - of a diamond that determines the worth of a diamond. The price of a diamond is proportional to the flawlessness and absence of color of the rock. Having said that, money can be saved on color and clarity as these properties cannot be easily discerned by non-experts. An eye clean and white diamond makes for a good buy with the chances of the diamond being more satisfactory if it has H color and VS2 clarity.

Certification is another attribute that one has to prioritize during the purchase of a diamond. Certificate of quality from a reputable lab with high grading standards such as GIA and AGS assures consumers that they paid for the advertised quality.

Brand value: The most notable appreciation in the price of a diamond comes from the jeweler markup. Stones of identical qualities vary in price depending on the retailer it is bought from, and online sites generally sell diamonds at lower costs than traditional brick-and-mortar stores, sometimes even by 32-50% as seen in the case of Blue Nile and James Allen. This is possible because of the low overhead of these e-commerce platforms.

COST OF A 1 CARAT DIAMOND

Diamonds all over the world are sold mostly in engagements rings, the average size of which is around 1 carat. It is therefore important to know the expected price of a 1-carat diamond.

The following is a general pricing guide which has taken into consideration the price of diamonds offered online:

$2,000 to $25,000 for round

$2,000 to $10,000 for princess

$1,700 to $17,000 for cushion

Below, we can see a table displaying the price ranges of a 1-carat, round ideal-cut diamond. The vast difference in pricing based on the color and clarity grade is defined here, and the highlighted boxes recommend the best value.

Color H and clarity of VS2 would be a white-looking diamond with an eye-clean appearance.  An eye-clean diamond at the SI1 clarity level would have a more superior appearance.

Cost of a 2-carat diamond:

The following price chart based is in the context of an ideal cut, round 2-carat diamond:

The boxes highlighted here once again indicate the combination of qualities which will ensure the best value diamond in that price range. It is also important to remember.

Prices shoot up exponentially as one crosses certain carat sizes. For example, the cost of a .25 carat round diamond could start from $300 and a .5 carat round diamond from around $650, but a 1 carat round diamond takes a giant step all the way across $2,000.

Blockchain can reduce the price of diamonds:

Factors such as processing charges that are payable to middlemen and agencies add on to the base price of a diamond. These intermediaries include banks, points of import and export, and the processors of the numerous incumbent documents that authenticate the transactions.

Blockchain technology when implemented to supply chain management obliterates the role of middlemen. Transactions made within the blockchain network is validated by smart contracts, which is basically an automated computing protocol.  The validated transactions are permanently stored in the blockchain ledger, which by nature is highly secure and immutable. This information becomes available for future audit and provenance tracking of diamonds.

In a blockchain network or consortium such as Diamante, trade participants can directly interact with one another and circumvent third parties altogether. This removes the processing charges which would have been levied on the final price of the diamond.

Blockchain Diamond Consortium:

The need for verification of the authenticity of diamonds is imperative to only ensure that the consumer is not being duped, but also to determine if the diamond on offer is ethically sourced. Technology like blockchain is, therefore, becoming popular as it very easy to meet these demands in the industry. Diamante blockchain consortium is one of a rapidly growing consortium that provides a unified marketplace to industry participants and provides a transparent and secure environment for diamond trade. When it comes t shopping diamonds online it is best advised to do so on a platform that can provide a trustworthy ecosystem to both the seller and the buyer both.

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What to Look Out For When Buying Diamonds Online?

For most of us, e-commerce has become indispensable even in the most common operations in our lives. We rely on it for paying bills, buying grocery, ordering food, and booking appointments, among a litany of other tasks. On average, online purchases make 54% of the total purchases made by millennials, and 49% of purchases by non-millennials. However, the trust factor is incredibly low when it comes to purchasing luxury items such as precious metal jewelry and diamonds online.

 Despite the hesitation, a multitude of websites specializing in diamond jewelry prevails in the diamond industry, offering their wares across a wide-ranging price bracket. While a majority of these online platforms are legitimate businesses, the presence of unethical entities out to scam unsuspecting consumers cannot be denied. This poses a very pertinent question before consumers who wish to purchase gemstones online: how to differentiate between a genuine vendor from a defrauder? The following are a few steps you can follow to assess the authenticity of the gems you wish to purchase online:

 1. Compare the images to the actual product

 It requires no effort to download or plagiarize images from any online source and present it as one’s own. A genuine online diamond distributor should be willing to share information and details with a potential buyer. Images should be accompanied by videos of the stone’s performance under different lighting, and adequate data regarding the diamond’s certification and grading should also be readily available. With these two in hand, comparing the provided image of the diamond to its description becomes possible, aiding in the analysis of the object on offer.

2. Ready customer service

An e-store running a reliable business will always have dedicated personnel to address queries put forth by customers. Since the diamond industry is rife with technical jargons which could be difficult to comprehend by those who are new to the subject, assistance in choosing the right diamond is often sought. Interacting with a sales representative also provides an opportunity to test their product knowledge with queries pertaining to diamond grade and certification and cross-check the answers with someone with more knowledge in the field. If the information shared with you is incorrect, it is a sign to look for a different online vendor.

3. Large Inventory and Efficient Searching Features

One of the foremost USPs of online distributors is that they offer a wider variety of products to choose from than one would find in a traditional brick and mortar store. This is because a physical outlet generally has a collection that is specific to the local demand and taste. Because the collection online is far more extensive, a reputable e-commerce platform would have categorized search criteria in place for enhanced user experience. The usability of the website is a feature to look out for considering 74% of online shoppers prioritize product selection during the online search process.

Advantages of E-Stores built using Blockchain Technology

Blockchain technology or distributed ledger technology is the innovation underlying Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. Its use has grown since it exploded into public knowledge in 2009 and is widely implemented in various industries for its fundamental features of permanence, immutability, and transparency. Not surprisingly it has huge potential in the e-commerce sector, especially in the case of diamond trade. The distributed digital ledger store every detail pertaining to diamonds registered on the blockchain network (including information such as the diamond’s provenance, cutter, polisher, certifier, retail distributor, and previous owners). This data cache can be accessed by network members for verification.

Transactions executed on a blockchain network are validated by smart contracts – a pre-programmed computer protocol – and stored permanently on the ledger, protected by complex encryption.  Since payments in such a set-up are conducted via cryptocurrency, it is possible to track the movement of one’s money in the network, preventing chances of fraud. Since the identity of each cryptocurrency is unique, duplication of the same is impossible.

Authentication of Gemstone with Provenance Tracking

E-stores dealing in diamonds are known to have their diamonds and diamond ware registered on the blockchain network. This serves a major purpose of authenticating the provenance, or source of origin of the precious stones, to ensure that they were not procured from regions of militant insurgency. Blood diamonds, as those are called, are mined at the cost of human rights and fund crime. The new age consumers of diamond are hyper-aware of such practices and opt for luxury items especially jewelry that they can don with a clear conscience. Diamond trade on blockchain, therefore, assures consumers of its ethical compliance, thus driving demand for those.

Blockchain Diamond Consortium – a Breakthrough in the Diamond Industry

One may have reservations regarding the difficulty in locating e-stores powered by blockchain among thousands of search results. Keeping this in mind, industry leaders have come up with the concept of blockchain diamond consortia, such as Diamante. The essence of this platform is to provide a unified marketplace for different entities in the diamond industry, including online retailers of diamonds and diamond jewelry, and their customers. Since participation in a blockchain consortium requires an applicant to clear KYC protocol, it establishes trust among the other consortium members who can conduct business with one another without the fear of being swindled.   

E-commerce is a fast-growing sector, and according to reports, e-commerce raked in around $2.3 trillion in 2017 alone and this number is expected to reach $4.5 trillion by 2021. Similarly, blockchain is also fast becoming a core technology on which the infrastructure of many industries is being built. When combined, it results in an easy to access yet highly secure environment for the trade of valuable items, especially diamonds.

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The Changing Landscape of the Diamond Industry with Blockchain

Be it jewelers, manufacturers, or collectors, they are all unified by a common conundrum — How to determine the provenance of a diamond and validate its authenticity? The fact that the infrastructure of supply chain management which is currently relied on is vastly fragmented and opaque does not make this task any easier. The answer to this has recently emerged in the form of distributed ledger technology, also known as blockchain, and it is steadily making an inroad into the diamond industry all over the world.

Several jewelry industry heavyweights have shown initiative to adopt blockchain, which is basically a synchronized database distributed across a number of computers or nodes. The technology has been around since 2009 and was initially used as a system that supported Bitcoin. Its use has now expanded widely and one of the main functions it performs is recording transactions occurring within a blockchain network in an immutable encrypted digital ledger available for future audit and verification this facet of blockchain has presented as a valuable instrument to trace the origin of diamonds and other precious stones, and every stop it makes in between its site of mining and final consumer.

Although still at a comparatively nascent stage, blockchain has found many enthusiastic proponents who are optimistic about the technology’s revolutionary potential as a verification solution. It enables peer-to-peer dealings, eliminating the need to depend on third parties such as a bank to process and validate transactions, thereby increasing trust between a brand and its consumers.

A consumer or a stakeholder participating in a transaction in such an ecosystem is able to verify information on their own without relying on an external actor for the same since the information in the ledger is accessible to anyone with a secure key. The removal of an intermediary also has the additional benefit of lowering operational charges.

2017 saw the establishment of a few notable blockchain platforms to streamline supply chain management and endow transparency in the diamond industry the world over. Take for instance De Beers which in January unveiled Tracr through which it would provide a permanent and tamper-proof digital record of a diamond’s journey from mine to consumer. September saw Chow Tai Fook - the Hong Kong giant - introduce a project similar to the one by De Beers in conjunction with a blockchain provider. IBM is another big player that has brought blockchain into the diamond industry. In Russia, Alrosa – one of the largest diamond producers in the world – too has implemented blockchain in its operations. In spite of the fact that the luxury items sector is generally quite secretive about its dealings, it has become clear that according to industry leaders long-term opportunities have outweighed short-term investment costs.

Another significant and innovative application of blockchain has been its utilization to build diamond blockchain consortia, an example of which would be Diamante. A consortium such as this provides a unified marketplace for different actors in the diamond industry including mining companies, traders, manufacturers, certifiers, and consumers. Since Diamante is powered by blockchain, the underlying tech for cryptocurrency, it has its own native digital asset (DIAM) that can be used for transactions, trading, and taking out loans following the line-of-credit protocol from its blockchain network.  

 Blockchain can almost instantly authenticate the value of any high-end product by providing details of where it was manufactured, what it’s made of, its previous owners, to its location of storage and delivery. These factors and authentication of value are imperative to the diamond industry and the realm of jewelry. Considering this, embracing blockchain creates an opportunity for companies to indicate that establishing a relationship based on trust and transparency with their customers is a priority for them.

 The advantages of removal of information silos, reduction of paperwork related costs, and overall amplification of security and transparency can give the diamond industry a new lease of life. It is no surprise then than blockchain is inching its way towards becoming a mainstay in the luxury items sector.

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Are Diamonds a better Investment than Gold?

Gold and diamonds are both great investment choices. In times of crisis, more and more investors choose to invest in gold or diamonds because these natural commodities never lose their intrinsic value, and are therefore a safe choice. According to Goldman Sachs, the earth’s crust contains twenty years of gold reserves. However, twenty years have passed between the discovery of a gold mine and the ultimate production, indicating that we may have reached the minimum production for the next few years. Despite the demand for gold, its price has substantially decreased over the past few years. So, the return on gold will be significantly lower in the near future.

Luckily, diamonds have dealt better cards. Today, USA, China, India, and the Middle East make up the largest part of the diamond demand side, but Europeans are increasingly showing interest in adding diamonds to their portfolio. Bain and AWDC predict the demand for diamonds in India and China to reach approximately $26bn in 2023, growing at a compound annual rate of 5.1%, fueled by the growing middle class in these countries — and their newfound penchant for diamond engagement rings. The supply side remains stable due to the simple fact that in recent years no new major diamond mines were discovered. Even if tomorrow a source was laid bare, it would take at least ten years to get it up and running. This combination of factors has led to increased market prices.

If you want to invest in diamonds, you will require a minimum knowledge about the market and you will have to allow yourself to rely on the advice of an expert. A diamond ring of 1,00,000 dollars has more investment potential than a ring of 1000 dollars. This doesn’t mean that investment in diamond has to be of the rarest quality. In fact, the rarer the gemstone the more difficult it is to sell. Diamonds of average quality with no visible imperfections or discoloration are more sell able and guaranty a larger proportional increase in value. Investment in diamonds comes with high profitability and it is an even safer haven than gold.

If you are considering an investment in diamonds, here are a few points to remember before putting your money on the table:

1. Get a clear idea of the four Cs

Carat weight, color, clarity, and cut of a diamond determine its value. Therefore, a thorough knowledge of these prevents an investor from picking a low-quality gem. The price of a diamond is directly proportional to its weight, thereby larger the diamond the more expensive it is. The same goes for its color, in which regard the colorless diamonds are always more valuable as it allows for maximum refraction of light. A diamond with good clarity is one which is devoid of blemishes and inclusions.

The “cut” of a diamond — which determines its brightness — is perhaps the most important of all the Cs and has the maximum influence on the pricing of the gem. Its category ranges from ideal to poor, with many variations in between.

2. Diversify the Portfolio

When investing in diamonds it is advisable to not put all your eggs in one basket. If the decided budget is $40,000, it would be wise to invest in four diamonds of different categories costing $10,000 each. This presents options of liquidating one’s portfolio in parts at any given time.

3. Invest in Diamond Mines

Investors who are reluctant to put their money behind diamonds directly often choose to invest in shares of companies that own diamond mines. This route is less expensive as well and sees better returns when one invests in larger companies that run several quarries. Such companies tend to dilute the effects of price change in diamonds.

Blockchain Diamond Consortiums for Diamond Investment

Despite being one of the most promising assets to invest in, the hesitation to rely on diamonds arises from the fact that unlike gold, diamonds are not homogeneous. Diamonds are valued individually based on factors such as color, clarity, and shape, instead of just weight alone, making it a challenge to track their value accurately.

However, initiatives by proactive players in the diamond industry have led to the creation of diamond consortiums that implement blockchain technology. Blockchain, which is the underlying technology of cryptocurrencies, is a decentralized distributed ledger spread across multiple nodes. It validates and keeps a record of every transaction taking place in a blockchain network using smart contracts. The ledger is also utilized for storing documents of any worth and importance, which in the case of diamonds can include certifications, details of provenance, trades, and transactions the gems have previously been a part of, and its changing prices. Since this ledger would be accessible to every member of the network, predicting the future performance of a diamond becomes much easier for investors.

In Conclusion

Investing in alternative assets is a smart choice, especially when you consider the scope it presents to change volatility exposure. It is also seen a source that could potentially generate surplus returns outside of holding stocks and bonds. In a comparison between the popularity between gold and diamond for investments, gold currently comes out on top. Gold has a long history, and investing in it has been around a lot longer, and its price is easily accessible online making the troughs and crests in pricing easy to track.

For long, the issue of price tracking and lack of adequate understanding of how diamonds perform in the market posed a problem. Sophisticated technology such as blockchain is slowly becoming a mainstay of the diamond industry in a bid to bring transparency in the sector. The consequence of this has been a marked increase in investments in diamonds with a record number of bids per diamonds in the market. Going by the trend, diamonds may indeed become a more popular choice for investment than the traditional favorite — gold.

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Blockchain Brings Transparency to the Diamond Market, Encouraging Investment in the Precious Stones

Diamonds are undergoing a phenomenal shift in its perception of being considered as a mere object of rare beauty to a repository of financial power. The delay in this movement could be attributed to similar attempts which were made in the 80s. That, unfortunately, resulted in the depreciation of value, thereby fueling the apprehension of the diamond industry in viewing the precious stones as alternative forms of investment. The recent emergence of initiatives in the diamond industry, however, is indicative of the gems playing a bigger role in the investment market sooner than expected.

Consider the success of IDEX, for example. The international diamond exchange operates in important diamond hubs including Antwerp, Mumbai, Ramat Gan, and New York. The leading online trading platform has more than 7,000 professional traders active on its system regularly, and it features more than three-fourth of the supply chain inventory. IDEX prices and data is looked on as one of the industry standards. The rising confidence of prominent organizations in the idea of diamond exchange is evident in Mediagrif Interactive Technologies buying out Polygon, which is a top active online trading network for qualified jewelry professionals. Polygon was established in 1984, and has since facilitated its members to explore unique trading opportunities.  

August 2017 witnessed India Commodities Exchange (ICEX) launch a futures market of 1-carat round diamonds and followed it up with 0.5-carat and 0.30-carat futures contracts as well. The 1-carat diamonds had the following specifications - H color, VS2 clarity, and triple Excellent, devoid of black or dark inclusions. De Beers International Institute of Diamond Grading & Research (IIDGR) were made responsible for grading the diamonds, and Malca-Amit provided vaulting services. These contracts could be traded throughout the day on every workday.

ICEX delivered $129,000 worth of diamonds - 26.27 carats in weight - as a settlement at the closing of the first contract. However, the contract period itself saw a total of 5,382.08 carats valued at nearly $27 million. Although the percentage of delivery against the total traded quantity was a modest 0.53%, it indicated the potential of this market. It also revealed the convergence of the future and spot market prices.

Singapore-based SDiX is another example active in the market. It pioneered electronic exchange for trading investment-grade diamonds and lists collections of diamonds contained in sintered zirconia cases with a unique optical signature recognition system and serial number each which are valued between $100,000 and $200,000. This list is also referred to as the “Diamond Bullion”. The 1 or 2 carats of diamonds in the Diamond Bullion are issued by the Singapore Diamond Mint Company (SDM), and they possess DEF color, VVS1- VS1 clarity, and triple Excellent, with no fluorescence. The GIA certified diamonds are inscribed with IIDGR’s proprietary table inscription.

The diamonds that are chosen by ICEX in SDIX for investment strike a balance between rarity and availability. To be more precise, while VVS and VS quality diamonds are rare, they are also available enough in the market for its sale in the futures or trading markets to not have any significant impact on its prices.

CEDEX.com adds to the list of new initiatives that are using technology to conflate the diamond industry with new financial markets to create new financial offerings. It aims to build a transparent and secure marketplace to sell and invest in diamonds. The platform implements blockchain technology to determine the value of diamonds and rates its asking price which is then listed on an exchange. Investors have the options of putting their money in a single diamond, a share of a high-value stone, or shares in a collection of diamonds.

Another platform using the blockchain technology to trade in diamonds is Diamante Blockchain Consortium. It provides a unified marketplace for players in the diamond industry ranging from mining companies to manufacturers, certifiers, retailers, and end-consumers. These entities can interact with one another directly and promote trade in diamonds. Diamante Blockchain Consortium also has an exchange platform and a native digital asset, DIAM, which can be used for transactions as well as trade.  

The idea that investment in diamonds is exclusive to the rich or millionaire investors is highly misplaced. One can attribute the hesitation people have towards investing in diamonds because of lack of proper research in the past led many to find out the “diamonds” they invested in were actually crystals of very less value. Investors thus need to do thorough background checks of the assets they are interested in.  

This has become hassle-free with technological innovations like blockchain, which is basically a decentralized distributed ledger that stores every transaction taking place in a blockchain network. The records of these transactions are verified by a computer protocol called smart contracts and are permanently archived in the immutable ledger. These properties make it a crucial element that makes supply chain management transparent and reliable. On a blockchain platform, one can easily see where a diamond was mined, cut, polished, manufactured, its certification, and past prices. As a result, estimating the price of a diamond and how it will evolve in the future becomes easy for an investor. The liquidity of investment is also radically increased when cryptocurrency is used to trade.

Industry leaders have realized the way to increase investment in diamonds is by eradicating the doubts shrouding the diamond market. One of the most significant steps in that direction has been the adoption of blockchain.

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Auction Houses In Blockchain Consortia Could Provide More Organized Service

Some of the biggest and most significant sales in diamonds are made at auction houses. Take two of the auction giants, for example, Christie’s and Sotheby’s, both of which aggressively focused on luxury jewelry sales in 2017, resulting in over $1.1 billion in combined sales.  Christie’s contributed $556.7 million and Sotheby’s $551.3 million to this massive sum. The items auctioned off included “The CTF Pink Star,” that sold for more than $71.1 million ($1.19 million per carat) at Sotheby’s Hong Kong. The internally flawless fancy vivid pink diamond weighing 59.60-carat smashed all records of the highest price ever for a jewel.

Auctions by nature draw a lot of attention, and diamond auctions are especially followed by many. When a diamond of special value sells for a record price, the event makes front page news, providing the public full details of the sale results. While this goes to increase awareness and desire for precious stones in the market for investors as well as for collectors, it also brings the most precious concentrated assets one can possess under the radar of the black market.

Supply chain Management with Blockchain

Auction houses have much to benefit from moving its operations to the secure and transparent environment of a blockchain network, and the easiest route to achieve this is by becoming a part of a blockchain consortium specializing in luxury items such as jewelry.  

The process that goes behind auctioning a diamond is a complicated one, involving many steps. The gems (and jewelry pieces containing it) that can run into multi-million dollars price range may or may not be sourced from a trader, depending on which it will possess a lab certification. Generally, when a diamond does not come from a trader, it does not have an accompanying certificate. To prevent confusion, the auction house conducts a firsthand assessment of the concerned diamond, decides if it worth holding an auction for, and subsequently sends it to a gemological laboratory for a grading report. GIA has found a clear preference by Sotheby’s and Christie’s, who often ask the lab to create a Monogram for diamonds of special value. A Monogram is basically a book containing a detailed description of a gem, including extensive background information, and a collection of high-quality photographs. The idea of compiling a monogram is to furnish well-rounded specifications of the diamond before it goes up for sale.  

For an auction house and their potential clientele, being a part of a blockchain jewelry consortium simplifies provenance tracking of every item registered item in the decentralized ledger. The distributed database assigns an encryption hash code to the details of the items registered on the data cache, making it permanent and immutable. Since the blockchain is continually reconciled in real-time, every participant of the blockchain network is assured the same set of information about an item at any given time or place.

Blockchain and Valuation of Diamonds

Auction houses evaluate the diamonds it sells, and they put it a lot of research before determining a starting price. This involves a delicate process that starts with a comprehensive understanding of the tentative cost for such a diamond would sell for in the market, applying its vast knowledge of diamond industry pricing, and of historic and recent prices of similar diamonds. It will look into the market history of the stone – whether it was sold before, and at what price. The fame of a previous owner also adds to the diamond’s value. In a blockchain jewelry consortium, these components would readily be available, and the source infallible.

This sort of easily available details is of interest not only to diamond traders but also private investors and institutional buyers who are concerned with their return on investment. The two categories of consumers gravitate toward different price ranges – traders limit themselves to lower buying prices, whereas investors tend to buy more exclusive diamonds. This happens because traders look to resell quickly, and investors think of long-term profit.  

Blockchain Diamond Consortium for better Marketing

Blockchain diamond consortium and blockchain jewelry consortium are on the rise and are seeing the growing participation from players across the gems and jewelry sector. Diamante Blockchain Consortium, for example, has members who include mining companies, cutters, polishers, traders, certifiers, retailers, and end-customers. For an auction house, marketing operations on a similar blockchain network more target oriented, and make reaching a people thoroughly invested in diamonds more precise. Potential buyers in the common platform would be able to look up diamond-related reports, its irregularities, a price guide pertaining to an auction.

Participating in blockchain jewelry consortia is a win-win situation for auction houses as well as for the diamond community as a whole. For the auction house, it provides a space for precision marketing, scope to assess consumer demands and asset management, and operate on a transparent supply chain. For a buyer, he or she gets a fair to a thorough knowledge of a gem before it goes on sale. The benefits of blockchain are immense in this industry, and the technology is speculated to be adopted by leading institutes even more in the coming years.

Image Source: Dnevni list

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The Gahcho Kué Mine Boosts Canada’s Necessity for Diamond Consortia

For the last decade, the top two diamond producing countries in the world have been Russia and Botswana. Following these two leaders is Canada, a surprising addition to the list of countries that produce rough diamonds, which are generally traced back to the African continent as evinced by the rest of the names in the list. These are Angola, South Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Namibia. In combination with the other three, they have been consistently furbishing over one million carats per year, providing for the majority of the rare stones circulating in the diamond industry today.

The high volume of diamonds originating from this country is desired my new age socially aware consumers. This is because Canadian diamonds are not sourced amid humanitarian conflict zones, neither is it known to fund such civil violence. Platforms such as blockchain diamond consortiums are dedicated to provenance tracking, and are being resorted to by diamond industry players in Canada.

History of diamond mines in Canada

Geologists long suspected the Canadian Shield to be a potential rich repository of organically formed diamonds, but evidence of this was not found until the 1990s. In 1991, two geologists, Chuck Fipke and Stewart Blusson, initiated a fact-backed quest to locate diamond-bearing Kimberlite pipes about 200 miles north of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. Four such deposits were determined and proved to be commercial, and resulted in the establishment of the Diavik mine in the mid-1990s. Mining at the site began in 1998. A few other mines followed suit in rapid succession, making Canada one of the world's leading diamond producers

The Diavik Mine

The Diavik diamond mine began producing diamonds in 2003, operating under Diavik Diamond Mines (2012) Inc., which is a subsidiary of Rio Tinto, itself a highly regarded diamond mining company. The total weight of rough diamonds excavated there makes it the largest mine in Canada in terms of carat production. The mine is also extremely valuable as most of its finds meet high-quality grades desired in the market.  Rio Tinto operates the mine under the joint arrangement and Dominion Diamond pays 40% of the operating and capital costs while taking home the same percentage of the mine’s diamond production.  

Of the four diamond-bearing kimberlite pipes being mined currently, three are of very high grade, and the fourth is under development with the end of 2018 expected to see its first production. At the end of 2014, the mining company stated to possess 39.6 million carats of proven reserves and 13.7 million carats of probable reserves. The mine is expected to be excavated for the precious stones till 2023.

The Ekati Diamond Mine

Located 300 kilometers northeast of Yellowknife, Canada’s first surface and underground mine is owned and operated by Dominion Diamond Corp. it started production in 1998 after nearly two decades of exploration and development. Operations in this group of mines in the initial years centered around six open pits and two underground sites. Currently, the five Kimberlite pipes that are being explored are namely Misery, Pigeon, Lynx and Jay, and Koala. All of these except the last one are open pits. Presently, the life of the Ekati mines is likely to end in 2020, unless the most potent of its undeveloped deposit – Jay – lives of its expectation and extends it by a speculated ten to eleven more years.

Victor Mine

This mine is the second one owned by De Beers in Canada and the first diamond mine in Ontario. It is one of the eighteen Kimberlite pipelines discovered in the region, and its production started in 2008. The Victor mine created 3200 jobs when its constructions began in 2006 and laid the foundation for 400 more permanent ones with the start of its operations.

The open-pit mine deploys heavy-weight equipment such as 100-tonne trucks, large front-end loaders, and bulldozers for its mining operation. The annual production rate is 2.7 million tonnes, which translates to 600,000 carats a year in diamond grade.

The Snap Lake Mine

The Snap Lake Mine is not only Canada’s first completely underground mine but also the first holding by De Beers outside of the African continent. The lifetime of the mine is estimated to be about 15 years.  

However, De Beers closed production at this mine at the end of 2015, citing a drop in the market price of diamonds.

Gahcho Kué

Gahcho Kué is the biggest of the new diamonds mines to have been discovered in over a decade in the world. Its first pipe was located by Mountain Province in 1995. Owned by De Beers, the aim is to extract more than 12,000 carats a day.  

Production at Gahcho Kué was the driving factor behind Anglo American’s 5% increase in output for 2017. De Beers is Anglo American’s diamond business, and it reported a 22% increase in volumes to 33.5m carats since Gahcho Kué became active. However, this mine is speculated to be closed in 2030 after maximum diamonds have been extracted from its reserves.

Scope for Blockchain Diamond Consortium in Canada

Gahcho Kué marks the last of the big diamond mines to be found, as announced by De Beers. While a lot of new diamonds will make it to the market in the next couple of years, the demand for the precious stones will fall after that. This makes it extremely important during this period of high demand to track the diamonds in the supply chain and ensure the goods journey through its intended stops only.

Diamond Consortia have recognized this necessity and are actively looking to incorporate reliable systems to bring in greater accountability in the diamond industry. Diamante Blockchain Consortium, for example, enables its consortium members to track every transaction taking place in its blockchain network.

Blockchain diamond consortiums include the participation of related industries which supply heavy machinery necessary for mining, transporting, and packaging the excavated stones. Blockchain diamond consortiums are also incorporated to securely store details of partnerships and joint ventures, and the ensuing monetary transactions adhering to agreements.

A blockchain ledger is decentralized and immutable, and has unlimited storage capacity. This technological innovation is drawing in diamond companies including cutters, polishers, certifiers, and jewelers. Diamond cutters, polishers, certifiers and jewelers can register in those consortiums for various opportunities. Ever since the emergence of Canada as one of the largest diamond producing countries, the demand for high-tech provisions such as blockchain diamond consortiums and jewelry consortiums is on the rise in the North American country.

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Diamond Jewelry Pricing: Retail versus Wholesale

Being wary of jewelers is second nature to humans, and almost all of us have a story about how someone we know was overcharged for a piece of jewelry. At other times, it is we ourselves who have been outwitted and made to part with a large chunk of our savings. This makes the talk about how diamonds are priced in this industry very important to consumers and their pocket books.  By the end of this discussion, we will also know which sector is more suited to a customer looking to resell their jewelry in future: retail, or wholesale?

Do Discounts Provide a Good Bargain?

Whenever you're out looking for an anniversary present or engagement ring you always wonder if this is a good price. But when you look at some of the discounts offered at retail stores, you also wonder if they are deliberately driving toward bankruptcy. There's always that confusing sale price which is difficult to understand because it seems to not make sense mathematically.

The general idea is that jewelry is marked up by 100%, 200%, 300% - actually the sky could well be the limit. The discounts offered are levied on a price that is well above the stone’s wholesale value. Without a discount, the difference between the price tags at retail outlets and wholesale stores is massive.

A Quick Comparison

For comparison, consider a diamond with the following characteristics: shape- round brilliant cut, weight- 1.10 carat, color- H, clarity- SI1, certificate- GIA, cut grade- excellent. Diamonds fitting these specifications were searched on three different websites - two were retail sellers, and the third, wholesale.

Retailer #1 showed the average price of the stone to be about USD8,100 to USD10,150. Retailer #2 showed the average price for the same diamond specifications to be from USD7,700 dollars up to USD10,000. Much to the contrary, the wholesaler sold the same at USD4,500 to USD5,000. On average the difference seen is 50%.

To ensure an apples-to-apples comparison, it is crucial to keep the certification common to every case while making the evaluation because different certificates have different grading scales.   

Can diamond jewelry be sold at lower prices and still be profitable to the seller? Consider that the normal difference in markup between retail and wholesale is approximately hundred percent. A jeweler, however, sells the jewelry at a price that earns the seller five or six percent, but he makes hundreds of sales. This formula is more profitable than waiting for one or two sales a week with alleged discounts that mislead the customer about the true value of the stone.

Buy Wholesale to Resell Later

Bottomline is, if the brand name is not that big of a concern, top quality diamond jewelry can be procured at a lower price if you keep the following terms in mind – cut, color, clarity, carat, and certification. Often, the markup on a piece of jewelry is decided by the name of the designer or company who sells it. This addition of value is of no use if your intention is to resell the item, because the worth of your possession will ultimately be decided by the jewelry’s weight, precious metal content, diamond content, and the worth of the labor that went into crafting it.

Besides the cost of the centrestone itself, high-end brands put a 20% to 30% markup on the setting of the diamond, and allot several other extra charges that goes into making the finished product. The final price of the jewelry ends up 60% to 70% more than the base price. However, the price hike does not end there because in some cases, designer brands skyrocket the selling price backed by simply the clout behind the name of the company. 

Diamond consortiums help client’s make smart choices according to their requirements

Diamond consortiums such as Diamante provide a unified market for diamond buyers and sellers across sectors. It facilitates networking, browsing the market, assessing ongoing price rates, and compare demand and supply of gems. Transactions can be carried out directly as well between members on its blockchain platform. The blockchain technology itself has provided unparalleled reliability, transparency, and accountability to the business of buying and selling diamonds, which has made making thoughtful decisions on investing in diamonds less risky.

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The Cut of a Diamond Determines its Value

Diamond cut is the only one of the four Cs which is not controlled by nature. It is arguably the most important as it directly affects how beautiful the diamond looks. But what is diamond cut? Well a diamond cut is one of the most misunderstood of the four Cs. It's often mistaken for the shape of the diamond. They actually relate to the angles and the proportions of the diamonds. Some polishing companies will choose to polish a diamond with less optimal angles and proportions to maximize the carat weight or perhaps the clarity of the diamond.

Three types of diamond cuts

A lot of rough diamond is lost during the polishing process. The stone can be made deeper by making the bottom of the stone, called the pavilion, steeper in order to make the stone heavier. This allows more weight to be retained in the polished diamonds. However because the angle is not correct it can have a very negative effect on the appearance of the diamond because the light is not reflected back to the eye. This is called light leakage. In this case, the light reflects out through the sides of the stone, robbing it of the flashes of light diamonds throw when in an adequately lit area. Neither are deep cut diamonds very expensive.

In some cases a diamond can be made too shallow. Now again this means that the angles are not optimal light leaks through the bottom of the stone, costing the diamond its brilliance. Its desirability lies in the fact that for a low price, one can get a wider diamond. However, it will not reflect light the way it should to make the diamond stand out, and appears dull.

The depth of a diamond can be said to be "ideal" when light entering it refracts against its various facets and return back the way it came in, radiating a brilliance that makes the gem stand out.

Cut grade

The cut grade gives you a good starting point guide but it's worth knowing that each grade involves a range of quality. So two diamonds which for example both have excellent cut will often have different levels of optical performance.

Round brilliant diamond is given a cut grade by the major grading labs like GIA IGI and HRD. These grades are poor, fair, good, very good, and excellent, and are determined by the depth percentage, which is the ratio between a diamond's measured depth and diameter.

However, to understand the full significance of the cut of a diamond, there are some other factors to look into as well, starting with:

1. Table Percentage.

The table in a diamond indicates the top flat surface of the gem, forming its largest facet. there is no standard measurement to this, as different diamond shape requires its own table percentage for optimum brilliance. If the top surface is too wide, it would overwhelm the structure of the diamond. On the flipside, a table that is too small will prevent enough light from entering the stone for refraction, giving it a dull appearance.

2. Crown Measurement

Just below the table of the diamond lies the crown, identified by its many facets chiseled expressly to capture light rays. Gemological labs measure the crown gauging its height and the angle of its cut. Its angle should not be too steep and must be well proportioned to the table and the very bottom of the diamond, also known as the culet.

3. Pavilion Depth

To be fair, it is the cone-shaped pavilion that starts from just below the girdle of the diamond that is responsible for the brilliance of a diamond. This level too is characterized by numerous meticulously cut facets which sharply reflects within the internal structure of the stone. Since the pavilion depth is crucial in determining the cut grade of a diamond, is it important that it not be too deep or too shallow, as that would compromise with the quality of the diamond.

4. Diamond Symmetry

A diamond is valued for its meticulously cut sides, minutely measured angles, and its perfect polish which will furnish the stone an unparalleled appearance. It only follows that another visual requirement - that of symmetry - be fulfilled to achieve this. The depth of the diamond, along with its overall length and width, is taken into consideration in relation with one another while making a gradation. Cuts like heart, marquise, pear and oval shapes, are likely to be confused for another if the symmetry is awry, costing its identifying trait in the market.

Need for a specialized ledger for the array of diamonds

No diamond manufacturer or gemological lab produces and grades just one or two types of diamonds. The volume of stones graded and cut by these units is massive and it is of great importance to keep a record of all the stones that have gone under their hands. The need for this ranges from economizing on time spent on logistics, to keeping the liability of being indicted for a diamond related crime later.

Blockchain has become the favored technology to design a decentralized, immutable, and distributed ledger for maintaining records of valuable items, especially when it undergoes a change in ownership or locations for different stages of processing.  Diamond consortiums are increasingly including the participation and inputs from such cutters, polishers, and grading labs. Some diamond consortiums like Diamante offer native assets for trading, to offer an added incentive to participating in a sophisticated system to bring accountability and better operation of logistics in the industry.

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Artificial or Natural? Know Your Diamond in the Jewelry Consortium

Synthetic diamonds are practically identical to naturally grown diamonds physically, optically, and chemically, and are making a place for themselves in the diamond consortium. The carbon structure is the same, making it extremely difficult to tell them apart, not only by laymen, but even by jewelers. They are detectable but only using specialized equipment.

This creates the issue of lab-grown diamonds been passed off as natural diamonds, which, though cannot be labeled fake (because these are diamonds after all, just simply created in a different way) are definitely what the buyer pays for if they are expressly looking to purchase excavated diamonds. Its reason enough to revoke the credibility of companies, and diamond consortiums as a whole, if a mishap of this sort is ever detected and has motivated prominent firms to send their stock for evaluation to make sure they are selling what they are saying they are.

A few of the questions which comes up when considering the gradual growth of the artificial diamond industry is this: how are these lab grown diamonds different, how do they compare, and what are the advantages of buying a lab grown diamond over a naturally created one.

The advantages are that they are cheaper, sometimes by even 40% depending on the diamond. Unlike CZ or cubic zirconia (the cubic crystalline form of zirconium dioxide) or moissanite, which are some of the standard threats to the diamond industry, these are actual diamond, so that's a plus. The other thing that is often called a selling point. Is the fact that you have a guaranteed origin, therefore less of a chance of circulating blood diamonds. And, although there is some debate over this, they are also considered eco friendly.

Those are some of the marketing strategies these companies are going for - calling them environmentally friendly and guaranteed conflict free. But is this actually gaining traction in terms of appealing to people, or is the market swayed by the notion that if you want something that lasts forever, as symbolic of love – the way De Beers has pushed that campaign for years and years - it has to take forever to be created.

It depends on the consumers, finally. Right now there is a limited supply of lab grown diamonds out there so you can’t even find that many. The younger consumers are a lot concerned about these issues than perhaps the baby boomers and gen Xers. The other thing is that the natural diamond industry does have a case to make for itself; some natural diamonds do have an impact on the image of the country where they were mined. In a way it’s not as black and white. Millenials are a natural constituency for these because they did not grow up with the classic De Beers “diamond is forever” campaign. For a lot of them the association is with the Hollywood movie “Blood Diamond”. They are more socially conscious, and more economically challenged.

Does this dilute the value of diamonds as a whole? Perhaps not. What is being noted is that not many new diamond mines are coming up, and eventually the reserve of natural diamond will become scarce, and possibly artificial diamonds can fill up some of the void then.

While the traditional mining companies have not reacted well to the acceptability of artificial diamonds, the interesting thing is that De Beers actually has a subsidiary that makes synthetic diamonds. They make them for industrial purposes, but there's always been a lot of speculation there if this becomes a big market, they could eventually jump into it. So, De Beers is already poised to get into the game. The advent of artificial diamonds reminds one of the cultured pearls of mikimoto that initially were rejected but now have become even more coveted one would argue. Point remains: one can expect to see more lab-grown diamonds making its way into jewelry boxes. The problem arises if it does so without the knowledge of the wearer. This is where the traceability of precious gems comes into play.** **Diamond consortiums such as Diamante have been created with the express aim to bring transparency and reliability to the diamond industry. It operates on a decentralized, immutable, and publicly accessible blockchain network, and invites data input from every participant of the consortium. These participants could be anyone who makes up any part of this industry – miner, manufacturer, polisher, jeweler, or end customer. Knowing where you diamond came from (as the blockchain network would keep a record of its point of origin) would remove any scope of confusion. For a long time there was only one kind of diamonds know there are two kinds of Diamonds natural and lab-created. United States remains the biggest market for diamonds, and could become the first big spot for the trade in artificial diamonds as well.

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Blockchain’s Bid to Simplify the Diamond Supply Chain

The journey of a diamond from the mine to the consumer’s finger is a fascinating one. Before it becomes a permanent part of any diamond consortium, it starts, as you know, in a diamond mine where tonnes of earth is sifted through to find the precious crystallized carbon deposits. However, most of the diamonds aren’t even gem quality diamonds; these are used for industrial purposes and industrial tools. Because of their hardness they are tipped on saw blades and rotary saws etc to facilitate constructional purposes.   But the very small percent that makes it to the gem industry go through a convoluted process. The gem quality rough diamonds are first collected and put into packages. The diamond corporation in charge generally has a set number of clients called site holders in the industry, who are very large companies within the industry. They have to meet very specific criteria to be accepted into this exclusive club. Now, the site holders have to commit to a set dollar amount purchase every month, and they generally don’t have the ability to reject any of the items in that parcel.

These site holders, who are also members of larger diamond consortiums, either forward the content of these packages to other companies to manufacture them, or they manufacture them themselves. Manufacturing here indicates the process of taking a rough diamond and polishing and fashioning it into the shiny gem that you are used to seeing. A large part, around 40-50%, of the rough diamond is lost in this process, which means if they have a one carat rough diamond, the end product is about 60% of a carat. This loss does not translate into a money loss because the lost rough diamond is factored into the price of the finished product. There is a huge trade of rough diamonds within diamond consortiums as well. Rough diamonds are parceled and are brokered between companies in order to maximize returns on the rough diamonds, if you are not intending to produce the actual diamond. Once the gems reach its end form, they are sold through a network of dealers around the world. You can have dealers sitting in diamond cities such as New York, Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles here in the United States, or across the globe in Sydney, Mumbai, Tel Aviv, Antwerp, etc. These dealers purchase in bulk from their manufacturer suppliers, usually based on pre defined terms. And they in turn sell to wholesalers or directly to retailers.

Now, some specific or unique diamonds are given to brokers in the city and it’s the broker's responsibility to connect between the wholesale merchant and the dealer, or the retail merchant diamond and the dealer. That’s generally the chain of events before the rough diamond reaches the end user. However, over the years, as in any industry, there is always the attempt to cut out the middle man. So, a lot of retailers bypass wholesalers and dealers, create relationships with the manufacturers overseas, and purchase directly from them. In some situations, diamond manufacturers become jewelry manufacturers themselves, and produce the end product to sell it directly to retailers, or they open up websites and sell it to consumers from there.

Evidently, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible in some cases to keep a tab on the highly valuable rocks as they move from one step of the supply chain to another, which often results in frauds, misplacements, and thefts. In an effort to curb this recurring problem, diamond consortiums like De Beers, and Diamante, are incorporating blockchain technology to track the movement of registered diamond in real time. A decentralized, immutable, digital ledger will add transparency, and unparalleled security to the data cache which is meant to file details of every transaction within the Diamante network, is aimed to increase trust and accountability among participants across sectors in the industry. Such a system will also actively work toward reducing diamond related crimes, the gem being the most preferred currency that circulates in the underworld.