ZhongAn Technology Tracking 760,000 Diamonds on the Blockchain 🚨 This article is 6 years old...
ZhongAn Technology Tracking 760,000 Diamonds on the Blockchain
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Updated: Sep. 9, 2018 at 7:10 pm UTC
Photo by wu yi on Unsplash
ZhongAn Technology announced the upload of data for 760,000 diamonds onto the blockchain and hopes to increase transparency and traceability in the luxury goods supply chain. The company aims to provide consumers and suppliers the ability to trace the entire journey of the diamonds from production to ownership.
ZhongAn joined forces with online diamond trading firm Ediams, forming a new subsidiary, Diamsledger to market the project. The application will track selected parties along the diamond supply chain, including diamond dealers, processing firms, customs, logistic companies and exchange centers.
Zhang Yongwen, CEO of Diamsledger, said that currently “information of 760,000 diamonds has been uploaded to Anlink as of mid-July.”
The project is built on top of ZhongAn’s blockchain network and hosted on its Anlink cloud platform. It does not replace traditional industry certificates that still hold high regard in the industry. Customers are able to enter their diamond certificate number through a portal on Diamsledger, where they will be able to view all the information of their beloved gem, including the GIA, NGTC and HRD information.
Why do we Need Diamonds on the Blockchain?
More consumers are demanding to know the origin of their products, especially with diamonds. In the age of technology and social media, it is getting harder for corporations to deny knowledge of where their products are sourced and to deny unethical practices within their supply chains.
Consumers are becoming aware of issues surrounding diamonds and want to know if they are wearing ethically sourced gems. This is where blockchain technology intends to change the industry, allowing consumers to trace the movement of their diamonds.
The industry is also plagued with counterfeit diamonds and synthetic (lab created) stones being passed off as authentic. With companies such as ZhongAn providing a blockchain provenance record consumers can be assured they are purchasing genuine diamonds while helping to mitigate the issue of legitimacy.
ZhongAn Technology
ZhongAn Technology is a subsidiary of ZhongAn Insurance – China’s first online insurance agency. Established in November 2016, the technology division of the insurance giant focuses on developing products and services in the areas of artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and blockchain.
Diamonds are not their first venture in implementing blockchain technology into a supply chain. In June 2016, ZhongAn Technology started a project to track the process of chicken farming where each step of the process–ranging from the egg to the processing factories and the logistic suppliers to the market–is recorded on the blockchain. This initiative was one of the first agricultural use cases in China for the blockchain technology.
