, individual diamonds can be tagged to a unique digital identity. On these digital certificates, it will record the origins of each stone. Setting the cogs in motion is luxury brand De Beers, which has developed a blockchain platform called Tracr where it “aims one day to track almost every natural diamond from the mine to the retail counter,” says Jim Duffy, the CEO of Tracr. From a technology and process perspective, implementation is fairly straightforward.
The diamond industry as a whole has been fraught with many issues and the eradication of blood diamonds is merely just one of many associated obstacles it faces. On a broader perspective, this effort touches upon the governance aspect of the industry, which is part of the ESG framework set out by the United Nations as a criterion for sustainable investment.
On the other aspects like environment, the diamond industry has been making progress such as implementing new initiatives to capture carbon dioxide emissions such as using kimberlite tailings from diamond mining. This is part of the “CarbonVault” project by De Beers that aims for carbon-neutral or even carbon-negative mining.
Socially, the industry is also leading the charge by putting more women in positions of management as well as surpassing the stipulated daily wage for the its workers. At Signet Jewelers, US’s largest jeweller iand parent of Zales, Kay and James Allen, more than 80 per cent of its workforce is represented by gender or ethnic diversity. It also raised its company’s minimum wage to US$15 per hour .
As technology advances rapidly, more solutions are available for luxury brands to consider. This constant innovation is what is going to differentiate each company from the competition. Hence, in addressing the problem of blood diamonds, the technology is present and it is up to these luxury brands to adopt and make the move… and they have to be quick.
But luxury brands using Blockchain still allow cut and polished diamonds that fund rouge regimes guilty of grave human rights violations to evade scrutiny. All sell diamonds crafted in Israel funding apartheid and warcrimes