Blockchains Are Forever? Diamond Giant De Beers Unveils DLT Strategy

One of the world's most well-known diamond companies is getting into blockchain by investing in an asset tracking platform.

De Beers, its chief govt announced today, is making plans to use the tech in a bid to reinforce transparency across the diamond deliver chain. The company, the arena's biggest miner of diamonds, says it wants to use the tracking platform a good way to rebuild consider inside the diamond distribution system – in addition to alleviate issues over money laundering and the broader trafficking of battle diamonds.

CEO Bruce Cleaver unveiled the initiative in a blog post published earlier today, writing:

W"This diamond traceability platform is underpinned by blockchain technology, which allows for a highly secure digital register that creates a tamper-proof and permanent record of interactions – in this instance, a diamond’s path through the value chain."

Cleaver mentioned some of characteristics that the platform will own, such as privateness controls for contributors and wide get entry to to capacity users.

Because it stands, the system would not have a firm launch date, although Cleaver indicated that the development method might play out over the approaching months and involve input from stakeholders.

"In the months ahead, we will continue to work with leaders from across the industry and share our progress with you," Cleaver wrote. "In the process we will no doubt make some mistakes, but we will continue to collaborate, learn and persevere."

That De Beers is transferring on this path is possibly unsurprising, given paintings in this vicinity by using enterprise startups in addition to international our bodies like the United nations. In September 2016, the institution behind the Kimberly procedure, an initiative which seeks to keep conflict diamonds out of global markets, said that it became looking to follow blockchain as a part of a way to track diamond exchange statistics.