Connecting the Diamond Industry

Providing a common platform for the entire diamond industry supply chain, Tracr is best described as an Internet of Value platform built to establish a baseline of trust. This is done through provenance, traceability and authenticity of diamonds. It provides a single, immutable digital record for every registered diamond, underpinning consumer confidence in a way that has not been previously possible, while enhancing efficiency through a more connected diamond industry.

Collaboration Over Competition

Tracr engages the entire diamond industry to collaborate on a common platform thus benefitting the whole diamond supply chain – from large diamond producers to small family-owned businesses. Their goals are threefold: Firstly, Tracr, being the digital infrastructure for a connected diamond industry, allows participants to increase efficiency via a common platform. Second of all, since Tracr has been created by the industry, for the industry, it ensures that value is retained within the industry. And last but not least, it also aims to give producers, manufacturers and retailers the opportunity to create new sources of value through a robust ecosystem of applications.

Sharing his views on the significance of Tracr in the diamond industry, Sachin Jain, President, Forevermark, India says, “Telling the unique story of each diamond piece, be it through blockchain, fair trade sourcing or the contribution to sustainability programmes, is a way to bring together individuality and social engagement for young consumers.”

The way Tracr Works
Tracr is able to digitally trace a diamond’s journey as it passes along the value chain, by creating a unique digital ID for every diamond registered on the platform. Each “digital asset” is linked to a natural diamond and its physical attributes. It then verifies each diamond’s provenance and authenticity through both data science and physical identification techniques, providing a double layer of assurance.
This process is repeated at essential steps of the value chain, enabling Tracr to consolidate a diamond’s data into an immutable digital trail, assuring traceability from rough to polished. Crucially, Tracr has a unique approach to data privacy that ensures immutable end-to-end traceability while allowing each user to maintain full control of their own data.
As a user of Tracr technology, Hitesh Shah, Partner, Venus Jewel shares, “Tracr is the best neutral platform as of today that begins at the mine and provides full traceability through the value chain. This is very critical as it brings confidence, history and a story about each diamond to a consumer. It can bring transparency in the stock evaluation which can improve the confidence of the financial institutions globally with the diamond industry. To make this work, maximum stock should be covered on the Tracr Platform.”

Core Competencies
Tracr relies on four technical competencies that make it an Internet of Value platform. Placing security and privacy at the top of its priorities, Tracr considers digital assets as valuable as the physical diamonds they represent. In order to align to these values, Tracr has gone to great measures to ensure the security and fine grained privacy controls of the data on the platform.
Tracr uses Internet of Things (IoT) devices to connect the physical world to the digital by capturing diamond data points along the value chain through Internetenabled devices. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is used to process information and automate decision making, which enable Tracr to analyse an ever growing collected data set in a fast and reliable way. With the help of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT, also known as Blockchain) Tracr is able to create a digital asset which is the representation of its counterpart in the physical world. The Blockchain is where the digital asset is created, appended and transferred securely, ensuring that no manipulation or double spend is possible.
Commenting on the path breaking technology of Tracr, Bianca Ruekere, Media Relations Manager at De Beers Group says, “As a company involved in all stages of the diamond value chain De Beers values the opportunity that Tracr presents to connect all aspects of the supply chain from mining to retail, providing authenticated provenance and traceability and boosting consumer confidence while creating business efficiencies across the sector.”

Industry Leaders Embrace Tracr

A number of leading diamond manufacturers are publicly involved in the Tracr pilot: Diacore, Diarough, KGK Group, Rosy Blue, Venus Jewel and Finestar. Signet Jewelers and Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group, two of the world’s leading retailers of diamond jewellery, and ALROSA, one of the world’s leading diamond producers, all joined the Tracr pilot last year, helping to extend the pilot’s reach into different geographies and parts of the industry pipeline.
Jim Duffy, CEO of Tracr shares, “The momentum around Tracr has been growing, and we look forward to collaborating with all members of the industry to ensure we deliver a common platform that is inherently by the diamond industry, for the diamond industry.”

Notable Achievements
In May 2019 the Tracr Community was launched. The Community portal is an educational resource and a collaboration space for all Tracr related topics. Along with Tracr updates the portal also serves as a knowledge base for data standards, technical readiness and process best practices that will allow for seamless integration with the Tracr Platform.
Working in close collaboration with leading industry stakeholders, Tracr has successfully piloted the concept and is scaling up the solution to ensure the platform meets the needs of all potential users, whilst providing further valuable services for the industry.
Speaking on the importance of Tracr’s role in bringing about trust and transparency in the system, Gaurav Jain, CEO, Finestar comments, “If the majority of the stakeholders, which are a part of the supply chain transit their existing systems into a completely traceable ecosystem and become part of a blockchain platform like Tracr, this will in turn be super beneficial for the industry as a whole.”
‘Tracr’s industry grade beta platform will formally launch later this year. Stay up to date with the latest developments by joining the online Tracr Community at tracr.com/community