De Beers Tracks Diamonds With Blockchain For The First Time

Global diamond giant De Beers announced Thursday that it tracked 100 high-value diamonds from the mine to the retailer using blockchain technology.

De Beers says that its new platform, Tracr, is expected to launch later this year and will be open to the entire diamond industry.

The effort was reportedly undertaken to enhance consumer confidence and public trust that De Beers diamonds were non-conflict, in addition to increasing efficiency in the supply chain.

Conflict diamonds are uncut diamonds mined in a war-zone and traded to illicitly fund the fighting.

Tracr was developed by De Beers together with five leading diamond manufacturers: Diacore, Diarough, KGK Group, Rosy Blue NV, and Venus Jewel.

Previous efforts have been made at the international level to curb the trade of 'blood diamonds.

While the Kimberley Process website purports that it blocked 99.8 percent of conflict diamonds from entering the world market, Canadian NGO Impact left the agreement in January, stating that the process was insufficient.

De Beers held a monopoly on the world diamond trade until the early 21st century, when pressure from countries with large stockpiles and increased public awareness of conflict diamonds pressured them to change their business model.

In April, leaders in the diamond and precious metals industries partnered with IBM to develop the Trust Chain initiative, a blockchain platform which will purportedly provide more transparency in the industry.

Eira Thomas will lead the company after purchasing Clara Diamond Solutions, a digital platform that uses blockchain technology to ensure the provenance of diamonds.