While sounding like a gimmick, this blockchain-based diamond supply can help fight crime

One must have seen some ICOs or projects where founders assured that their tokens are backed by diamonds. Most of these projects are scams, with some few notable exceptions. This project by De Beers is, however, different: it is going to be a supply chain of diamonds based on the blockchain database. Like IBM and Walmart plan to create a monitoring environment where one can track the whole food production and supply products, so does De Beers with the diamonds’ production and supply.

And here is the factor that makes this project more valuable than others: it can potentially help to fight criminals connected with illegal or “blood” diamonds, the selling of which helps to finance civil wars. The problem is well-described in the Blood Diamond thriller and mentioned in Far Cry 2, a computer game.

Previously, to fight this flow of blood diamonds, the international community created the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS). Diamonds are stored in containers and every “clean” diamond has a special certificate which confirms it was not in any way connected with wars. This procedure helped to combat some illicit channels, but the problem still exists.