From The Mines To Your Finger, How Smart Contract Is Helping Stop Conflict Diamonds?

The journey of a diamond is truly unique. Right from the mine to the beautiful fingers of a newly engaged lady; diamonds are truly unique. They are special in terms of their qualities, exploration, and journeys. The diamond supply chain ecosystem across the world works on a set of values and compliances which puts utmost traceability to the entire diamond value chain. If you are wondering why there is so much concern about the origin of diamonds; you should know the concept of Blood Diamonds or Conflict Diamonds. These diamonds are mined illegally to support conflicts often causing massive humanitarian subjugation, child labourers and prisoners. The United Nations, European Union, and the entire diamond industry have mutually agreed to come down heavily against conflict diamonds. In 2003, the Kimberley Process was established to bring about complete lucidity within the diamond supply ecosystem.

One of the technological revolutions which promise to completely transform the diamond industry is the blockchain or the distributed ledger technology. Built on a unique trust build mechanism, it can trace back every transaction back to its source while making everything lucid in front of the other participants in the value chain. Thus, the diamonds being traded have a continuous history sheet right from the time when they were taken out from the mines. 

While other technologies have proved futile to maintain a continuous record of all transactions, the DLT has proved its mettle in terms of maintaining complete traceability and authenticity in all transactions. The smart contract based DLT technology effectively stops conflict diamonds from entering the trading periphery of the global diamond market. This would ensure that all the participants within the trading periphery can enjoy a conflict diamond transaction free!

The DLT or blockchain works in a unique consensus-based system that primarily stores and records data in a continuous ledger. Plus, all the transactions within the ecosystem work on a unique method that is validated through a unique consensus mechanism. This trust built network eliminates the risk of fraudulent transactions from getting validated within the supply chain ecosystem. Thus, everyone starting from the diamond merchants, traders, suppliers, cutters, miners, and customers enjoy the seamless trust and mutual authenticity within the value chain. A value chain is the result of continuous implantation of a strict business cycle powered by a high-end technology like DLT.