De Beers Now Able to Track All Its Diamonds

RAPAPORT… De Beers has expanded its Tracr blockchain platform to track all of its diamonds through to retail.

The program will “underpin confidence in natural diamonds” and is a first step in enhancing standards in the industry, De Beers CEO Bruce Cleaver said Thursday.



By deploying the platform “at scale,” De Beers will be able to provide provenance information from the mine to the sightholder to the jewelry store, the company explained. This information is tamperproof thanks to the blockchain technology. The decentralized model means diamonds can be added to Tracr in large quantities and at high speed: It’s possible to register a million diamonds per week onto the platform, De Beers said.



De Beers launched Tracr for research and development in 2018. It placed a quarter of its production on the platform at its first three sights of this year in preparation for the launch of the scaled-up offering.



Diamond origin has come into focus in recent weeks because of the Western sanctions on Russia in light of its war in Ukraine. De Beers sources rough only from mines in Botswana, Canada, Namibia and South Africa, and said its provenance claims had been certified by the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC).



“Confidence in diamond origin is extremely important, and we look forward to seeing the rollout of this new program, delivering new benefits to the diamond industry and giving more assurance to consumers,” said Lefoko Moagi, Botswana’s minister of minerals and energy.



Image: A rough diamond in kimberlite at De Beers’ offices in London. (Ben Perry/Armoury Films/De Beers)