In order to work towards creating the first blockchain for the sector, the Gübelin Gem Lab and Everledger, a leading global emerging technology enterprise, have come together to create the Provenance Proof Blockchain for coloured gemstones. Everledger is known as the first to apply blockchain technology to the diamond isdustry.
“Under the Provenance Proof initiative, the Gübelin Gem Lab is developing technologies to further drive transparency in the gemstone industry,” the laboratory announced yesterday. “In the past month, as part of this initiative, the Gübelin Gem Lab has kicked off a major project to establish a blockchain for coloured gemstones. The project aims at providing a digital, decentralised ledger that tracks gemstones throughout their lifetime journey along the supply chain, from mine to end-consumer. To design and build the required technical backbone, Gübelin Gem Lab has partnered with Everledger, a leading expert in tracking the provenance of high-value assets using blockchain technology.”
The laboratory also indicated that all stakeholders and parties concerned with the lifecycle of a gemstone will be engaged in the project. These include miners, dealers, cutters, gemmological laboratories, wholesalers, jewellers, retailers and the end consumers.
“The Provenance Proof Blockchain aims to combine transparency, integrity and security, with the level of privacy and confidentiality required to bring these stakeholders together,” Gübelin stated. “This technology can be applied to every coloured gemstone and enables a completely new level of transparency across the industry.”
“We are pleased to embark on such a monumental collaboration with the Gübelin Gem Lab, a gemmological pioneer, combining our solution with their patented technology under the Provenance Proof initiative, as a world-first,” Leanne Kemp, Everledger Founder & CEO has been quoted as saying in a media report. “Having successfully applied Everledger’s innovative solution to the diamond industry, it is a natural progression to now expand the application to the coloured gemstones industry. There is a strong need for the next-level transparency that will be established by our collaboration in this fast-expanding industry. A steady growth over the past few years has been seen, with estimated global rough gemstone sales for emeralds, rubies and sapphires reaching $2.5 billion in 2015.”
The same report quotes Raphael Gübelin, President of the Swiss family-run business, of which the laboratory is a fully independent subsidiary, as saying: “The concept and technology of a blockchain transforms an opaque business based on trust into a business based on transparency. The combination of the blockchain with the application of physical tracers – such as the Emerald Paternity Test – is a quantum leap for our Provenance Proof initiative. Thinking further into smart contracts, it opens up completely novel business models in our industry, and opportunities to establish more sustainable and fairer practices.”
The project is slated to be unveiled to market in the middle of 2018.
News Source: gjepc.org
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