Diamond Origins

Diamonds are one of the most precious stones on earth. They are minerals which are first formed billions of years ago deep beneath the ground. Diamonds result when pressure and heat act on carbon. They are the hardest substance in nature and have found us in the day-to-day activities of men. People love to have diamonds because of its beautiful looks, worth, and meanings which have been attached to it. Diamonds (rings) are seen to be a sign of love. They have been made or cut into different shapes, styles, and accessories such as rings, necklaces, etc.
Africans mining diamond
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Over the years there has been an estimate of 15billion USD worth of rough diamonds produced yearly of which 65% comes from Africa. Africa is the largest producer of diamonds in the world. The term blood money is widely known in the African setting to signify the rigor or hardship attached to the mining or production of diamonds in the past decades. In the past (and fairly in the present), laborer or slaves are forced to mine diamonds under the close watch of a strong or wicked owner who pays so little for hard labors. In Africa in those days, many of the laborer or slaves are killed or punished in an event where diamonds go missing.

Selling Diamonds

Records have it that diamond prices soared in 2011 because of an escalating taste for it among the middle class in China and India. There are so many reasons why the holder of such a high valued precious stone may want to sell it. It may be because of financial needs or other reasons such as not willing to keep or wear the stone. The sale of diamonds in the present day comes with so many complications and disappointments (because diamonds may not worth as much as your granny said it is). First, a diamond holder needs to know the worth of the diamond he holds by going through an appraisal by professionals or local dealers. If it is through professionals or qualified appraiser the diamond is appraised based on 4Cs.
4Cs Diamond
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Color- Colorless diamonds are worth more
Carat- This talks about the weight of the diamond (diamonds with higher weight worth more)
Clarity- This involves the consistency in the diamonds or lack of flaws
Cut- This talks about the shape of diamonds and the quality of the cut.

A qualified appraiser usually gives a document report which is sealed. This is not advisable for people who perceived that their diamond is less than $2000 for the cost the appraisal. It is until the appraisal is done that a holder can then proceed to weigh options of whom to sell to.

Selling Complications

Some of the complications in trading diamonds are:

For centralized marketplaces like eBay, the buyer's money is escrowed with the platform while the sellers diamond is appraised again by eBay. If the diamond meets the agreed quality, the money is sent to the seller. This can take a lot of time, especially for the money to be sent, since it is through banks. Bank charges can be overwhelming especially when it is cross-border. In a case where the diamond does not meet the set quality, the escrowed funds have to be sent back to the buyer incurring more cost and time,
Centralized marketplaces charge a huge amount of money for diamond trades. eBay charges 14% commission on sales of the diamond.
For local dealers, sellers can fall into the hands of fraudsters who take diamonds from sellers and do not pay.
Most of the time selling of diamond might be over a very long distance though few centralized exchanges offer free delivery services (though included in the commission charges) but many times the cost and the security of the diamond are in great risks.

GlitzKoin

Glitzkoin diamond
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Glitzkoin wishes to put to an absolute end to the challenges facing global diamond trades by leveraging the blockchain technology to ensure security, privacy, speed and low transaction cost when dealing with diamond trades.

GLITZKOIN focuses on integrating the best features of the conventional diamond industry with, the utility and functionality of the latest blockchain technology
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Glitzkoin is built on the stellar blockchain which ensures the privacy of all transactions made. Some other blockchains operates on the principle of open or public transaction records which is not good or suitable for diamond sales because of competition,

Smart Contracts on Glitzkoin

Glitzkoin diamond smart contracts
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Glitzkoin will use smart contracts to ensure or assure a transparent and secure trade with tracking of each diamond on the platform. Since smart contracts are contracts (which involves a legal agreement between two or more parties) which are self-executing and eliminates all intermediaries, Glitzkoin ensures that all intermediaries in the sales or trades of diamond are totally eliminated. Thus, allowing buyers and sellers to trade seamlessly. All diamonds to be traded on the platform are to be appraised with Glitzkoin certified appraisal centers around the world. The properties of the diamond such as physical properties, the origin of the diamond or history of the diamond (which includes where, how, and who mined or produced the diamonds or the trade history) are uploaded on the blockchain for the diamond to be listed on the platform.

The platform allows participants on the platform to be able to buy the Diamond smart contract as an asset. If a buyer wishes to get the diamond delivered physically, the status of the listed diamond will change to in-delivery. The diamond will be delisted by the smart contract when the diamond is physically delivered to the buyer.

The platform also allows sellers of diamond to choose to sell to a buyer or multiple buyers. If the seller wishes to sell the diamond to multiple buyers, multiple smart contracts are produced for the diamond each holding a partial ownership of the backed diamond.

Glitzkoin Token use

The platform uses tokens as a mode of transaction. The buyer pays tokens to sellers in exchange for their diamonds. Since all transactions are done on the blockchain, or distributed ledger, users can be assured of transparency and security of the funds sent. The blockchain technology allows users to send their payments and it gets delivered in a matter of minutes compared to being sent through banks which can take weeks. The transaction costs or fees are totally cut thus saving a lot of fund for both buyers and sellers. Glitzkoin will disrupt the market of the diamond trades totally with the blockchain technology.

Platform Participants

Apart from the buyers and sellers, other platform participants or stakeholders are mining companies, diamond polishers, certification authorities, etc. to facilitate the ease and efficiency of fulfilling transactions.