Russia’s Ministry of Education and Science (Minobrnauki) has introduced a blockchain-enabled platform for tracking natural diamonds, government-backed news agency TASS reports today, Jan. 30. The new Russian diamond tracking technology claims to fully guarantee the authenticity of diamond products across all the supply chain, from extraction and polishing to the final owner. Based on emerging IT technologies and blockchain, the new system intends to prevent market participants from losing their financial assets since the diamond market has both natural and synthetic diamonds, as well as fake stones, TASS reports. According to Minobrnauki, the technology has been developed by Russian startup …

Major Canadian-based jewelry manufacturer and retailer Birks Group has begun accepting Bitcoin (BTC) through a partnership with U.S. payment processor BitPay, the company confirmed in a press release Nov. 28. Birks, which has operated since 1879, will initially accept the largest cryptocurrency in eight of its 30 domestic stores in Canada. Seven are already servicing Bitcoin payments, with the facility coming to the company’s latest Graff and Patek Philippe stores in Vancouver “soon.” Commenting on the move, Jean-Christophe Bédos, president and CEO of Birks Group, described the decision as being of “great significance.” “BitPay will benefit our customers as we …

This week, two major news within the precious metals industry broke. First, the world’s largest diamond company, Russia’s Alrosa, joined a blockchain project aimed at increasing transparency. Secondly, the world’s largest bank, JPMorgan, reportedly started to use its blockchain to tokenize gold. Indeed, blockchain has been pioneering both gold and diamond industries — complex ecosystems that heavily rely on supply chains, where cargo passes through dozens of geographical locations before arriving at its destination. The technology has helped to avoid corruption and improve quality by tracking valuable assets at every milestone of their journey, from mine to retailer. Blockchain can …

The world’s largest diamond mining firm, Russia’s Alrosa, has joined the pilot of fellow industry giant De Beers’ diamond supply chain blockchain platform “Tracr,” mining industry news outlet Mining Weekly reports Oct. 29. Alrosa is reported to be the world’s largest producer of raw diamonds in carat terms; together with De Beers, the two firms produce around half of the world’s supply. In Q3 2018, the firm’s rough diamond sales rose 12 percent year-on-year to $949 million in value, even as sales in carats declined. Tracr, whose pilot was first announced in January, aims to improve transparency and consumer trust …

Two leading diamond industry players have agreed to work with blockchain startup D1 Mint Limited to tokenize diamonds, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph. D1 Mint Limited, the creator of the diamond-backed crypto asset D1 Coin, has signed its first purchase agreement to buy 1,500 investment-grade diamonds, worth $20 mln, from global veteran KGK Diamonds. The raw diamonds were supplied by the largest diamond mining company in the world, Alrosa. Alexei Chekunkov, a member of Alrosa’s Board of Directors, said the company believes that the innovation of blockchain can transform the precious gem industry by making natural diamonds …