The people making a digital twin of every diamond in the world

Every natural diamond has an epic story to tell. It’s part of what makes these stones, forged over billions of years and mined for thousands, the alluring and precious commodity they are.

That story hasn’t always been a positive one, however. An ancient industry, it has seen its fair share of bad practice and controversy over the years. Today, however, systematic efforts over decades have largely relegated the dark side of the natural-diamond industry’s story to the past. Instead, those involved will speak passionately about a diamond’s power to not just add value to our jewellery, but to conserve the environment and support entire communities.

Seven years ago, De Beers – long a dominant force in the diamond industry – decided to incubate within itself a tech startup. That startup was called Tracr, and its mission was imbue every diamond in the world with an immutable record of its provenance. Innovating with blockchain would attach detailed traceability – and accountability – to every stone mined and sold.

In this episode of the Tech For Good podcast, we speak to Tracr CEO Wes Tucker and CTO Caroline Glasberg-Powell, as well as Hilary Allen and Vinod Nair from Accenture, who have been instrumental in Tracr’s journey.

We investigate the lofty ambitions of the company, the technology powering it, and perhaps most interestingly the challenges and triumphs of building an agile, innovative startup within the confines of one of the world’s most traditional and ancient industries.