Editor’s Note
This partnership between Everledger, GIA, and JD.com marks a significant step in bringing blockchain-based traceability to the diamond market, offering consumers greater transparency and confidence in their purchases.
Recently, UK blockchain technology company Everledger has reached a cooperation agreement with diamond certification body Gemological Institute of America (GIA) and JD.com. Consumers can now purchase GIA-certified traceable diamonds on JD.com.
Chris Taylor, Chief Operating Officer of Everledger, told Jiemian News that due to the long production chain, the process from diamond mining to cutting, polishing, and selling is often international, inevitably involving information loss and silos, leading to errors in information recording. Secondly, traditional paper-based diamond grading certificates are prone to forgery or tampering, which can affect the proof of a diamond’s value.
Everledger’s solution is to leverage the immutable nature of blockchain to create a digital identity for each diamond. It invites various participants in the diamond supply chain to upload information onto the chain, participating in the recording of diamond information. This process covers the mining, grading, and classification of diamonds.
Subsequently, using GIA’s laser encryption technology, its report is laser-engraved onto the diamond. When needed, the encrypted report number can be read from the diamond.
Using this method, consumers can query the report via the diamond’s number, enabling the sharing of diamond grading certificates. For parties in the supply chain, they no longer need to bear the burden of storing and transferring paper certificates, thereby improving operational efficiency.
Chris Taylor mentioned that besides putting certificates on the chain, Everledger also uses artificial intelligence technology to warn of suspicious activities. For example, when multiple diamond products use one GIA certificate, the system can predict potential issues in advance, allowing major retailers on the JD.com platform to prevent some problems beforehand and enhance their business credibility.
Zhai Xinlei, Head of Blockchain Products at JD Digits, stated that according to the “2020 Blockchain Traceability Service Innovation and Application Report” jointly released by JD.com and the CEIBS-Prologis Supply Chain Service and Innovation Center in March 2020, after enterprises applied the traceability system, product sales performance improved significantly, with the repurchase rate for some categories increasing by approximately 47.5%.
Everledger entered the Chinese market in 2018 and previously collaborated with GIA and Chinese jewelry brand Chow Tai Fook to provide Chinese consumers with blockchain-based digital diamond grading reports. In 2019, Tencent led Everledger’s Series A funding round.