Blockchain manages to fix 760,000 diamonds and counting

A subsidiary of China's first exclusive insurer, ZhongAn Insurance, says it has put the data of 760,000 diamonds in a chain of blocks designed with Blockchain.

ZhongAn Technology, which is publicly traded in Hong Kong, announced on Tuesday the launch of its Blockchain Gem Tracking application, saying that the project was created to achieve a higher level of traceability in the luxury industry.

The product is marketed through Diamsledger, a new subsidiary jointly created by ZhongAn and the online diamond trade firm Ediams.

Built on ZhongAn's proprietary Blockchain network, and hosted on its Anlink cloud platform, the application is deployed in selected parts along the diamond supply chain, including diamond traders, processing companies, customs, companies logistics and exchange centers.

The ultimate goal, according to the company's announcement, is to provide a transparent accounting book in a decentralized network that tracks every piece of information about a diamond, from production to the customer.

The system also works in parallel with traditional industrial certificates such as GIA, NGTC and HRD, says ZhongAn, which means that buyers can enter a diamond's certificate number to see all their information through a portal in Diamsledger.

Zhang Yongwen, CEO of Diamsledger said that currently "the information of 760,000 diamonds has been uploaded to Anlink since mid-July." Zhang went on to say that the application provides a double guarantee along with traditional certificates, which mainly record the physical information of the diamonds, such as color and place of origin.

The launch follows previous ZhongAn initiatives that include a Blockchain-based application to track and register the food supply chain, as well as a patent application for a Blockchain solution designed to protect the media from piracy.