Traceability Of Diamonds
The diamond industry is today one of the most strictly regulated industries and is gradually transitioning from secrecy to transparency. While the industry is expanding and changing, consumer attitudes and preferences are shifting even more quickly. Modern consumers are more informed and savvy than ever before, and as a result, they have a lot of demands and questions about how transparent and reliable the jewellery they purchase is. Each diamond has a history and a story of several hands it passes through while getting processed, and now retailers and customers want to know all of it about their diamonds.
Diamond traceability is the most talked about thing these days. It is the record of the journey of a diamond from where and when it was mined to who sold it to whom, every piece of information matters and is kept note of to trace the diamond. The social responsibility of young customers is propelling retailers to find a way to maintain transparency in the diamond supply chain.
Why does it matter?
Buyers today are more well-informed and are socially concerned about their actions. They ask for full transparency of the information about the diamond from the retailer and are even ready to pay a little extra for it. The information about the diamond journey provides them with crucial information, such as:
❖ The credibility of the people or companies involved in buying, selling, and processing the diamond.
❖ The authenticity of the source. "Blood Diamond" promotes human abuse and is one of the major reasons to trace the diamond. The consumer does not want to promote such acts directly or indirectly and feels responsible for them.
❖ The place of the origin of the diamond.
❖ How the diamond was cut and shaped and planned.
❖ Who graded the diamonds and on what parameters.
❖ How many years did it take the diamond to finally reach the consumer.
These answers help the consumer decide if the diamond is authentic and assures them that they are spending money on the right thing. Transparency builds trust between the seller and the buyer.
How are the diamonds traced?
Diamonds are traced by maintaining a genuine record of the diamond at each stage of its process. So when the diamond reaches the customers, they can have full access and transparency about the history of the diamond which helps them form a personal bond with the diamond they are buying. The most common way to maintain diamond records is through blockchain.
Blockchain is a set of data that is maintained by each party involved at each stage. Once the data is entered it cannot be tempered and everyone involved in the process of that particular diamond has full transparency about it at every stage, including the customer. Each set of data is stored as an information block, these data blocks together form a record that is accessible to everyone involved. This is considered to be the most popular approach, but there are some limitations to it. If the data recorded is inaccurate, it defies the whole purpose. This can happen intentionally or unintentionally at any stage of the process. The data stays in he same form forever which may give misleading information to others and the authenticity of the diamond gets in doubt. To overcome this limitation of blockchain technology there is one way out, and that is Verifiable data.
When Verifiable data is used, the data is captured independently, directly from the manufacturing system, at all steps of the process of manufacturing. The data once stored cannot be tampered with and the chances of human errors and falsification are very low here because the data is being recorded on its own before being stored with security. Using Verifiable data is the key to tracing diamonds accurately, without any errors and any questions about the authenticity of the data and the diamond.
Platforms for tracing diamonds
Various platforms for an end to end identification of rough and polished diamonds are launched with the help of technology because of the increasing demand for traceable diamonds from gen-z customers. The advanced traceability methods add value to the customer purchase experience and answer all the questions related to the authenticity of the diamonds. Some platforms are widely used and accepted like TracR and Everledger.
TracR
A software that is introduced by the DeBeer group of diamonds with the help of blockchain technology. TracR is the world's only distributed diamond blockchain that starts at the source and provides tamper-proof source assurance at scale, enabling an immutable record of a diamond's origin. Empowering jewelry retailers and customers to have confidence in the authenticity of the diamonds they purchase.
Everledger
Everledger is a platform accepted by many business leaders and also by the diamond grading firms like GIA which uses a digital page so that everyone can access reports with just one click. Everledger uses a mix of different technologies including blockchain, AI, IoT, and nanotechnology to create a digital twin of every diamond. A secure and permanent digital record of the diamond's origin, characteristics, and ownership is maintained. The records cannot be tampered with and are accessible by all. This transparency helps retailers to respond to the growing expectations of customers for sustainable and authentic diamonds.
Not only the end customers but the retailers and everyone who is involved in the diamond process also get benefitted from this technology. At every step, they can keep an eye on the supply chain, manage their stock, make business decisions based on it and also build a strong relationship with their customers based on trust and evidence. Laxmi Diamond is now registered with Everledger and TracR to provide our customers the complete diamond journey `traceability solution.Our goal is to increase confidence and clarity in the markets where transparency is a strategic necessity. Now registered on the best marketplaces for diamonds with claims about their sustainability and origins.
Retailers now cannot just talk about the authenticity of the diamonds, they need to show and prove it. With the help of this information, we have been able to design a procedure that would enable each Laxmi Diamond stone to tell its own tale about how it travelled through the diamond industry.