Can diamond tracing from mine to finger help improve transparency?
One of the most transparent ways for a company to promote ethical production is to trace supply chains from source to product. The luxurious diamond industry can do so thanks to open-source technology known as the blockchain. According to an expert, Blockchain technology has the potential to publicly validate, record, and disseminate transactions. Resultantly, we get a platform that enables us to track each stage of the supply chain. The adoption of such technologies in the diamond business may ensure that each step from mine to finger is carried out with care for the environment, employees, and local communities.
Be that as it may, although conflict-free diamonds are more common in today’s jewelry industry owing to the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, it can still be difficult to trace individual components back to their original origins. The adoption of blockchain technology by IBM and a newly established coalition of gold and diamond companies supposedly aim to make the jewelry supply chain more transparent. You should search on the internet for some best places to buy diamonds for your jewelries.
As a consumer, you have the right to know that the jewelry items you are looking to buy are exactly what you think they are, though it can get complicated at times due to the jewelry industry’s size and scope. Miners, gemologists, certifiers, regulators, shipping managers, wholesale suppliers, designers, merchants, insurers, and other interested parties are all part of the supply chain. Also, given that information is not usually shared throughout the network, there are frequently numerous copies of the same document to reconcile. In such circumstances, when diamonds and precious metals change hands so frequently along the supply chain, fraud is a possibility.
In this article, we look into the two major initiatives carried out to help improve transparency in the industry, which is otherwise replete with innumerable scams.
The TrustChain Initiative
The TrustChainTM Initiative is the first cross-industry mechanism that uses blockchain to track the provenance of finished pieces of jewelry across the supply chain, intending to end the illegal trade in the so-called blood diamonds, thereby promoting ethical jewelry in general. The italicized term refers to diamonds mined in war zones and sold to fund insurgencies, invading armies’ war efforts, or warlord activity.
This technology tracks and authenticates diamonds, precious metals, and jewelry at every stage of the global supply chain, from mine to merchant. Transactions and data points produce blocks in the jewelry supply chain that include unique information; once validated, it becomes part of a permanent chain that eventually constitutes the whole digital record for the jewelry piece. This technique is made possible by IBM’s blockchain technology and Underwriter Laboratories’ (UL) unbiased third-party verification services.
It should be noted here that one of the key advantages of blockchain—or distributed ledger technology, as it is called—is that all network users have access to a single, immutable, and continually updated record of transactions. If a gem’s provenance is documented on the blockchain, it may be traced back to its source. Moreover, it enables blockchain network members to cooperate and create a single shared view of data without jeopardizing specifics, privacy, or secrecy.
Alrosa’s Nano Mark
This method allows diamonds to be uniquely identified and offers extensive information on their history, including where they come from and to whom they had previously belonged. The nano mark is subatomic, which is why it cannot be erased, and does not jeopardize the diamond’s integrity. Only ALROSA’s unique scanner can reveal the nano mark.
Since rough diamonds are often cut, this new method tackles a significant problem in the present mine-to-market system: the subatomic nature of this mark prevents it from being removed from the diamond.
It is understood that the ability to track a diamond’s source is important for anyone concerned about the ethics of diamond mining, in addition to ensuring its legitimacy—if it has an ALROSA nano mark, it cannot be fake.
Alroso recognizes that diamond mining has a difficult past and that in recent decades, the desire for conflict-free diamonds has grown. Therefore, its nano mark initiative provides a “digital passport” containing information about the diamond’s qualities, a unique ID number, a photo and video, and how the diamond was cut.
Some experts believe that as technology progresses, this method will become a vital means to encode vast quantities of data, such as photos, music, or massive media files, inside a designated diamond.
ALROSA CEO Sergey Ivanov stated in a news statement that guided by expanding market demand, they are focusing their efforts on identifying and ensuring the provenance of our diamonds. ALROSA is in a unique position as the world’s biggest vertically integrated diamond mining company. Having access to the whole production cycle, they claim to have all the required knowledge about their polished diamonds and the raw ones from which they were cut. Thanks to the laser nano mark technology, these assurances may now be extended to diamonds sold by their partners.
Conclusion
Admittedly, diamonds are a fantastic product—the most beautiful thing that nature has ever created. Hence, it is critical to remove the mystery from the supply chain so that we can return our attention to the product’s enchantment. Today, a customer has no idea where their diamond originates from, where it was discovered, under what conditions it was mined, where it was made, if intermediaries were not harmed in the process, and so on.
The diamond industry must become more transparent and responsive to customer demand. It is moving slowly and needs to evolve faster to build customer confidence, and technology is helping to facilitate this shift. Some industry players take inspiration when robust initiatives are taken, for they feel that they push the industry in the right direction.
Can diamond tracing from mine to finger help improve transparency?
One of the most transparent ways for a company to promote ethical production is to trace supply chains from source to product. The luxurious diamond industry can do so thanks to open-source technology known as the blockchain. According to an expert, Blockchain technology has the potential to publicly validate, record, and disseminate transactions. Resultantly, we get a platform that enables us to track each stage of the supply chain. The adoption of such technologies in the diamond business may ensure that each step from mine to finger is carried out with care for the environment, employees, and local communities.
Be that as it may, although conflict-free diamonds are more common in today’s jewelry industry owing to the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, it can still be difficult to trace individual components back to their original origins. The adoption of blockchain technology by IBM and a newly established coalition of gold and diamond companies supposedly aim to make the jewelry supply chain more transparent. You should search on the internet for some best places to buy diamonds for your jewelries.
As a consumer, you have the right to know that the jewelry items you are looking to buy are exactly what you think they are, though it can get complicated at times due to the jewelry industry’s size and scope. Miners, gemologists, certifiers, regulators, shipping managers, wholesale suppliers, designers, merchants, insurers, and other interested parties are all part of the supply chain. Also, given that information is not usually shared throughout the network, there are frequently numerous copies of the same document to reconcile. In such circumstances, when diamonds and precious metals change hands so frequently along the supply chain, fraud is a possibility.
In this article, we look into the two major initiatives carried out to help improve transparency in the industry, which is otherwise replete with innumerable scams.
The TrustChain Initiative
The TrustChainTM Initiative is the first cross-industry mechanism that uses blockchain to track the provenance of finished pieces of jewelry across the supply chain, intending to end the illegal trade in the so-called blood diamonds, thereby promoting ethical jewelry in general. The italicized term refers to diamonds mined in war zones and sold to fund insurgencies, invading armies’ war efforts, or warlord activity.
This technology tracks and authenticates diamonds, precious metals, and jewelry at every stage of the global supply chain, from mine to merchant. Transactions and data points produce blocks in the jewelry supply chain that include unique information; once validated, it becomes part of a permanent chain that eventually constitutes the whole digital record for the jewelry piece. This technique is made possible by IBM’s blockchain technology and Underwriter Laboratories’ (UL) unbiased third-party verification services.
It should be noted here that one of the key advantages of blockchain—or distributed ledger technology, as it is called—is that all network users have access to a single, immutable, and continually updated record of transactions. If a gem’s provenance is documented on the blockchain, it may be traced back to its source. Moreover, it enables blockchain network members to cooperate and create a single shared view of data without jeopardizing specifics, privacy, or secrecy.
Alrosa’s Nano Mark
This method allows diamonds to be uniquely identified and offers extensive information on their history, including where they come from and to whom they had previously belonged. The nano mark is subatomic, which is why it cannot be erased, and does not jeopardize the diamond’s integrity. Only ALROSA’s unique scanner can reveal the nano mark.
Since rough diamonds are often cut, this new method tackles a significant problem in the present mine-to-market system: the subatomic nature of this mark prevents it from being removed from the diamond.
It is understood that the ability to track a diamond’s source is important for anyone concerned about the ethics of diamond mining, in addition to ensuring its legitimacy—if it has an ALROSA nano mark, it cannot be fake.
Alroso recognizes that diamond mining has a difficult past and that in recent decades, the desire for conflict-free diamonds has grown. Therefore, its nano mark initiative provides a “digital passport” containing information about the diamond’s qualities, a unique ID number, a photo and video, and how the diamond was cut.
Some experts believe that as technology progresses, this method will become a vital means to encode vast quantities of data, such as photos, music, or massive media files, inside a designated diamond.
ALROSA CEO Sergey Ivanov stated in a news statement that guided by expanding market demand, they are focusing their efforts on identifying and ensuring the provenance of our diamonds. ALROSA is in a unique position as the world’s biggest vertically integrated diamond mining company. Having access to the whole production cycle, they claim to have all the required knowledge about their polished diamonds and the raw ones from which they were cut. Thanks to the laser nano mark technology, these assurances may now be extended to diamonds sold by their partners.
Conclusion
Admittedly, diamonds are a fantastic product—the most beautiful thing that nature has ever created. Hence, it is critical to remove the mystery from the supply chain so that we can return our attention to the product’s enchantment. Today, a customer has no idea where their diamond originates from, where it was discovered, under what conditions it was mined, where it was made, if intermediaries were not harmed in the process, and so on.
The diamond industry must become more transparent and responsive to customer demand. It is moving slowly and needs to evolve faster to build customer confidence, and technology is helping to facilitate this shift. Some industry players take inspiration when robust initiatives are taken, for they feel that they push the industry in the right direction.
