Is Bitcoin Good for Diamonds?

(Rapaport) - Picture this: You’re helping a customer who is very close to making a purchase on a good-quality, high-value diamond. The topic of payment comes up, and instead of using Apple Pay or pulling out a recognizable credit card, this client asks if you’re willing to accept Bitcoin. You pause — you’re not sure how to answer. Nearly a decade after the cryptocurrency first appeared from the depths of the internet, the very idea of it still feels risky and abstract, like an underground point system used only by criminals and hackers. But while Bitcoin has certainly earned its dubious reputation — a Russian crime boss was recently discovered to have laundered over $4 billion using Bitcoin accounts — it’s also becoming increasingly mainstream. Major companies like PayPal, Microsoft and Overstock now accept it. IBM has wholeheartedly embraced blockchain, the sophisticated ledger technology that tracks each bitcoin’s movements. And slowly but surely, retailers are coming to regard Bitcoin as a legitimate form of payment. This leaves jewelers and other diamond sellers in a position to answer an almost unprecedented question: Is it time to embrace a new form of money?