De Beers Is the New Kid on the Blockchain

(Rapaport) - Last month, dozens gathered in midtown Manhattan to learn more about De Beers’ Diamond Blockchain Initiative — a project that aims to underpin confidence in diamonds by creating permanent records for them. While most know blockchain as the technology that underlies Bitcoin, De Beers is testing a system that will safeguard stones’ identity, ownership, contracts and financing history. In fact, the new program has no relation to cryptocurrency. Instead, it lets users securely track assets and digital record transfers through a tamper-proof and decentralized register that shows the journey from rough to polished. Along the way, it validates the identities of stones and their attributes, updating constantly as the diamonds move through the pipeline.