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GIA’s Tracr Investment Is First Step Toward Industry-Owned Platform
The Gemological Institute of America is now a 30 percent stakeholder in Tracr, the De Beers-backed blockchain for diamonds.
The homepage of the website for Tracr, the blockchain platform for diamonds that De Beers began developing in 2018. GIA now holds a 30 percent stake in Tracr.
Las Vegas—The Gemological Institute of America is now a 30 percent shareholder in Tracr, the blockchain platform backed by De Beers Group that tracks diamonds from mine to market.
The investment signals GIA’s belief in the importance of traceability and is the first step toward making Tracr an independent platform owned by the industry at large.
While De Beers retains the remaining 70 percent of Tracr for now, the long-term goal is to bring in companies from all points along the supply pipeline, including other diamond producers.
“As you know, a year ago when we were standing on these stages, we said that we’d taken Tracr and it would become an industry solution ultimately, that we were working with GIA and we signed heads of terms,” De Beers Group CEO Al Cook said at the company’s breakfast, held Friday in Las Vegas.
“I am very pleased to say that we announced this morning that those heads of terms have been now finalized into a full contract.”
At the breakfast, GIA CEO Pritesh Patel said GIA’s decision to take an equity stake in Tracr is “rooted in our belief that trust, transparency, and independent verification will become even more important in the years ahead.”
“As consumer expectations evolve, our industry must continue to strengthen confidence through innovation, collaboration, and integrity,” he said.
Patel extended thanks to Cook, De Beers’ Paul Rowley, Tracr CEO Jillian Wolk, and former GIA Executive Vice President Tom Moses, who started with the conversation with De Beers about Tracr when Bruce Cleaver was CEO.
In an interview with National Jeweler, Patel said while Moses opened the talks on Tracr, the lab had been studying and investing in diamond traceability for years before that, noting that it launched the GIA Diamond Origin Report in 2019.
He reiterated what he said at the De Beers breakfast: that GIA believes consumers want to know, or will want to know, where their diamond comes from.
“You know, you hear these mixed feelings [about diamond origin]. People say consumers want to have traceability, some will say nobody’s coming in and asking for it,” Patel said.
“But I go back to the simple thing, which is, you see the trend in all different commodities or any product. Consumers want to know where the origins are. I think it’s going to be important in the future.”
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The investment signals GIA’s belief in the importance of traceability and is the first step toward making Tracr an independent platform owned by the industry at large.
While De Beers retains the remaining 70 percent of Tracr for now, the long-term goal is to bring in companies from all points along the supply pipeline, including other diamond producers.
“As you know, a year ago when we were standing on these stages, we said that we’d taken Tracr and it would become an industry solution ultimately, that we were working with GIA and we signed heads of terms,” De Beers Group CEO Al Cook said at the company’s breakfast, held Friday in Las Vegas.
“I am very pleased to say that we announced this morning that those heads of terms have been now finalized into a full contract.”
At the breakfast, GIA CEO Pritesh Patel said GIA’s decision to take an equity stake in Tracr is “rooted in our belief that trust, transparency, and independent verification will become even more important in the years ahead.”
“As consumer expectations evolve, our industry must continue to strengthen confidence through innovation, collaboration, and integrity,” he said.
Patel extended thanks to Cook, De Beers’ Paul Rowley, Tracr CEO Jillian Wolk, and former GIA Executive Vice President Tom Moses, who started with the conversation with De Beers about Tracr when Bruce Cleaver was CEO.
In an interview with National Jeweler, Patel said while Moses opened the talks on Tracr, the lab had been studying and investing in diamond traceability for years before that, noting that it launched the GIA Diamond Origin Report in 2019.
He reiterated what he said at the De Beers breakfast: that GIA believes consumers want to know, or will want to know, where their diamond comes from.
“You know, you hear these mixed feelings [about diamond origin]. People say consumers want to have traceability, some will say nobody’s coming in and asking for it,” Patel said.
“But I go back to the simple thing, which is, you see the trend in all different commodities or any product. Consumers want to know where the origins are. I think it’s going to be important in the future.”
While GIA’s stake in Tracr was publicly announced last week, the lab’s clients have been able to access Tracr information for diamonds that are registered on the platform since April 1.
Patel said when the clients scan the QR code on the grading report, it takes them to GIA’s online Report Check service.
There, they can see the diamond’s unique Tracr ID number as well as its country of origin and link to the Tracr website for more in-depth information about the stone.
Examples of both a printed report and Report Check result for a Tracr diamond can be viewed on the GIA website.
Wolk, who was with GIA before she took over as CEO of Tracr on May 1, said the wide rollout of the service—which GIA is calling Provenance, Powered by Tracr—at the beginning of April followed a smaller pilot program launched for select De Beers sightholders.
“We had been doing it previously for some of the sightholders who had some stock on Tracr to really pilot it and see what the adoption would be,” she said.
“So, it has been available, but not widely. Now it’s available for any shape diamond, any client that has a Tracr ID.”
Clients who wish to submit a stone for the Provenance, Powered by Tracr service must provide the 25-character alphanumeric Tracr ID and note “PROV-T” in the memo.
Patel said there is no intention at this time of GIA raising the prices of its grading reports because of its stake in Tracr.
While the majority of the Tracr team is based in London, Wolk will remain in New York where she said she will work to “drive downstream adoption” of Tracr.
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