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DE BEERS TAPS BLOCKCHAIN TECH TO BOLSTER CONSUMER CONFIDENCE
BY JANICE LEUSCHEN
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e Beers’ new blockchain technology, Tracr, will transform the diamond industry when fully implemented. “We believe that the blockchain technology has the potential to be transformative for the diamond industry by addressing some of its main concerns,” said Tom Montgomery, senior vice-president, Strategic Initiatives, De Beers Group. “Crucially, it can support confidence in the diamond ecosystem by creating a tamper-proof, immutable record of a diamond’s journey throughout the value chain and ensuring that its provenance.” In April 2017, De Beers started brainstorming ways that digital models could change the system. “We distilled hundreds of ideas to arrive at the concept of a blockchain traceability platform which is now Tracr,” Montgomery said.
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For this blockchain to work, it has to be embraced by the industry, and provide benefits for all.
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— Tom Montgomery, Sr. VP Strategic Initiatives, De Beers
Assorted rough diamonds. Credit: De Beers
“Tracr currently uses Ethereum, one of the most secure, versatile and widely-adopted blockchain protocols, to build the platform. Being industry-focused, we have also developed a unique cutting-edge privacy technology piece to address specific industry concerns around privacy and data security.” In early May, the company announced that it had successfully tracked 100 high-value diamonds through the blockchain platform. “Initially, the focus of the pilot has been on recording a diamond’s journey as it passes through the value chain, so we have started with newly mined production,” Montgomery said. “The information is uploaded onto the Tracr platform at the point of allocation of rough diamonds to the manufacturers that are participating in the pilot. De Beers worked with five diamond manufacturers during the pilot phase: Diacore, Diarough, KGK Group, Rosy Blue NV and Venus Jewel. Each company provided input into the development of a mechanism for integrating current recordkeeping with blockchain. During talks with industry stakeholders, the De Beers team found a genuine demand for an inclusive digital system to trace and, therefore, track the value of diamonds.
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2018-05-28 4:23 PM