Firm Launches Japan's First Synthetics Production

RAPAPORT... A Japanese company claims to be the nation's first producerof gem-quality lab-grown diamonds, targeting initial annual output of 24,000carats. Tokyo-based Pure Diamond Co. launched in July as a spin-offfrom a producer of synthetic diamonds for industrial purposes. It plans tobegin by selling its stones to Japanese wholesalers and retailers, beforemoving directly into the retail and e-commerce sector in a later phrase. Itwill use other synthetics suppliers' prices as its benchmark, Takuya Ito, themanaging director of Pure Diamond, told Rapaport News last week. "If market demand will increase, we can expand ourcapability," Ito said. The company is launching a cryptocurrency, Pure DiamondCoin, to fund production equipment and research and development. The pre-saleof tokens launched on Saturday. It is also using blockchain technology toprovide consumers with information on the diamonds' provenance andcharacteristics. The firm's chief technology officer, Junma Kawasaki, was the"white-hat" hacker - the term for a computer specialist who tests the securityof networks - responsible for solving the January theft of $500 million indigital money from Coincheck, a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange, it claimed. Pure Diamond's technology, including the blockchain, willensure its lab-grown diamonds are traceable and remain separate from naturalstones in the supply chain, Ito added. While the scale of the world's synthetics production isunclear, China is currently thought to be the largest grower of diamonds. Theglobal market is about 3% to 4% of the size of the natural sector, for whichglobal rough production is approximately 150 million carats, De Beers chieffinancial officer Nimesh Patel estimated in an interview with Rapaport News last month. Image: Kim Alaniz