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Blockchain diamond. Has anyone purchased one?

Franqui62

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jun 16, 2021
Messages
52
Hi, I’ve just come across this site, after purchasing a diamond and setting from Brilliant Earth, currently in production.

I’ve spent the evening reading up various posts and articles, which I’ve found both alarming and reassuring.

My fiancé and I particularly wanted to buy a Canadian diamond for family reasons. Could have done with your advice beforehand, but I’ll summarise how it went.

I have tiny hands. I know 8yr olds with bigger! Therefore I don’t want any stone too large. On looking on the website, there was a section for Canadian diamond’s. I like the more colourless diamonds, having had an old family ring which diamond looked very yellow. We already had decided to get the best cut possible. So started search for D/E, .30-.40, round, super ideal cut and anything VVS and above. We were pretty stunned to find a FL within our budget, liked a setting with some pavés, and whacked in an order.

However, over next couple of days, we’d looked a bit more at the site and realised nothing except Brilliant Earth was showing the diamond was truly Canadian.

A bit more research and we realised there were GIA Origin diamonds, which listed a number of countries on the online GIA Certificate, but website summary said was Canadian for another we liked. That was 0.60, so larger than we really wanted, but still IF.

At the same time, we saw there were also Blockchain diamonds, which appear to have a full trail from mine to purchaser. We’d never heard of these before, but quick internet search was pretty reassuring.

I was put in touch with a consultant from Brilliant Earth and we discussed the three. They as good as admitted the first couldn’t be proved to be from Canada. Then the larger one they said was down as Botswana Sort, which didn’t mean it wasn’t Canadian, but as they couldn’t guarantee, they recommended going with the Blockchain which will be fully secure and show the chain from mine onwards.

I’m currently awaiting more photos as I only have very basic at present and didn’t screenshot the angles measurements before details were removed as sold.

But have any of you bought Blockchain? We’re told it comes directly from Everledger and is a transfer of assets for the diamond. They will also request a copy of the diamond certificate for us.

I attach the limited details for the one purchased, and the GIA for the one that cannot be shown to be Canadian.
1249E20E-53C0-4D90-BE65-AF175870902D.jpeg A043370B-08CA-42CC-8196-8CA4237F2A9C.jpeg 7D729928-9B3C-46AE-9AB8-AE66F291B637.jpeg
AFE2EDDE-3352-4736-B0CE-1C18BDA42251.png
 

diamondseeker2006

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Jan 11, 2006
Messages
58,547
There's one major problem, what BE calls superideal cut is NOT what we know here as superideal cut diamonds. Do these diamonds have magnified images and/or videos?

I've been on PS for over 15 years and I have not heard of Blockchain Diamonds.
 

Franqui62

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jun 16, 2021
Messages
52
Thanks. That’s why I say I was quite alarmed reading this page!

I believe this is a video of the actual, but the picture showing the angle percentages has gone since I placed order. The basic measurements are included in original post.

This explains the Blockchain process
 

tyty333

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Dec 17, 2008
Messages
27,198
Definitely not super ideal with a 60% table. Why cant you post the GIA report for the one you bought? (just noticed that you havent
even seen the GIA report.) Do you have any numbers from the report that you can post? How do you know you are getting a well-cut
stone without the details?

The one you didn't buy is not well cut either. 41.8 crown is way too high.

The ones I've seen from Canada had a maple leaf engraved with the GIA number on the girdle.

Never heard of Blockchain but I'm not in the industry...maybe some of our Trade people can weigh in.
 

denverappraiser

Ideal_Rock
Trade
Joined
Jul 21, 2004
Messages
9,150
I see various discussions on the concept but no one selling what they call a blockchain diamond. Can you give us a link, please?

The only blockchain-connected diamonds I've come across is Icecap. As best I can tell, the blockchain is created after the stone is cut, which means the mine isn't part of it, but I may be wrong on that. Their issue is about 'investments', which is a totally different market than what gets discussed here but, obviously, there's some overlap. I don't recall seeing them make country of origin claims.


Canadamark is a service to attach a serial number that follows the diamond through the manufacturing process to the end consumer and is designed to document Canadian provenance but I've not heard of them using blockchain.

I've seen BE make various statements about their countries of origin but I don't recall them ever attaching it to a blockchain. This may be new but I don't see it listed on their website.

Can you give more details?
 

John Pollard

Shiny_Rock
Staff member
Premium
Joined
Dec 2, 2020
Messages
481
It may be useful to make a distinction between blockchain and traceability.

Blockchain

As it applies to the crypto sector, a blockchain has high reliability because it's a single chain: Data is recorded in chronological order and (when decentralized) is irreversible. Each transaction gets permanently associated to all those which took place before. One chain, back to the start.

Diamond transactions have two chains. Chain X starts with extraction of the rough crystal and potentially continues through sale at tender, and perhaps secondary and tertiary trades, until it's planned and manufactured somewhere. That's the end of the raw material. Now there is a chain Y... The (1,2,3,4?) polished diamonds go from the manufacturer to distribution, resale, etc., until offered to a consumer.

Trying to connect a polished diamond's chain Y back to some rough diamond's chain X isn't like crypto, where you can see a permanent, immutable timeline. It's a blind spot in the concept of diamond blockchain.

Traceability

Technology like GCAL Gemprint has long been effective for tracing polished diamonds. In the same way, rough mapping and planning scanners can provide a basis for origin tracing.

Sarine is working toward such a traceability program which has potential. In concept, GQ rough gets scanned (3D + internal mapping) at the mines. Those scans go to the cloud. Once the rough travels to India, Botswana, Antwerp (or wherever) for cutting the manufacturer can match it with the scan from the mine and register its ID there. Internal mapping now becomes key. Once polishing is complete, the finished stone/s get matched against previously documented features from the rough for validation and ID registration. Then, whenever it changes hands it can then be tracked back through production to the original scan at the mine.

It's conceivable, but ambitious. Sarine will need the big miners and their preferred sightholder-producers (at minimum) to agree and cooperate.

I hope it's becoming clear to upstream players in the natural diamond industry that consumers are increasingly pivoting to products with known origins. Tiffany already solved it. LVMH has committed to traceability across all supply, not just diamonds, by 2030. Others are working the problem.

How did they say it in 1974? "We have the technology... We have the capability..."

1624043337504.png
 

Wink

Brilliant_Rock
Trade
Joined
May 24, 2021
Messages
816
Technology like GCAL Gemprint has long been effective for tracing polished diamonds.


Thank you, John, for your excellent differentiation between blockchain and traceability. I know one example of how the GCal Gemprint has been used to maintain absolute traceability when sending diamonds to multiple labs.

Diamonds arriving from the cutter are taken to GCal where they are Gemprinted and have their performance photographs and videos taken. The Gemprint is basically a laser photographic fingerprint which provides court admissible evidence as to the identity of a diamond.

The diamonds are then sent to Lab 1, and when the reports are ready from Lab 1, are sent to Lab 2. When Lab 2 has done their work, the diamonds are returned to GCal where they are again fingerprinted and proven to be the same diamond sent to the labs.

This provides traceability and comfort to all concerned, proving beyond any doubt the diamond that was sent, is the diamond that was returned.

Wink
 

Franqui62

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jun 16, 2021
Messages
52
Thanks for all your comments. Very interesting and I’m sure you’ll all be glad to know I’ve cancelled the transaction. My fiancé and I got too many bad feelings about it all.

this was one of the things we’d read
 

Karl_K

Super_Ideal_Rock
Trade
Joined
Aug 4, 2008
Messages
14,632
Blockchain is used as a store of data.
It suffers from the same problem any other data store does, garbage in == garbage out.
You are still relying on people to input the data truthfully so it is just as open to fraud as anything else.
 
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