Tracking all the things

Blockchain as a solution for social problems offers promise. Everything from preventing blood diamonds from entering circulation to guaranteeing a minimum income could be implemented with blockchain. Any tool has the potential for abuse, and this is no different.

Consider the pitch—put a tiny chip in every diamond. It has a little chip with a revocable private key on it, something akin to the EMV chip on a credit card. In theory, this could be used to ensure that each diamond in your rings is not a so-called conflict diamond, one sold to fund a war.

It also may have the effect of freezing everyone else out of the market. Jewelers getting stones certified through organizations such as the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) now have to sign a declaration that they don't knowingly sell blood diamonds, as well as submit personal information related to anti-money laundering regulations.

Purveyors of diamonds not wanting to adhere to this scheme largely don't have to, at the expense of being consigned to the rubbish heap—selling exclusively uncharted diamonds implies a proprietor offering a product of lesser quality. Whatever the expense, businesses go to great lengths to appear legitimate, and it's unlikely that even the savviest of consumers will care much for the proprietor's privacy.