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§ Private Profile · New York City, NY, USA
Creates regulator-approved fungible natural diamond commodities for investors and ETFs, traded as digital tokens.
Based in New York, Diamond Standard produces regulator-approved fungible natural diamond commodities in the form of physical coins and bars that can be traded as digital tokens on a blockchain. The company sources diamonds through a regulated exchange and groups them into standardized sets of identical geological scarcity, embedding them with wireless encryption chips to enable electronic transactions. The firm has sold its physical and digital diamond products to more than 4,000 investors seeking alternative hard assets. Diamond Standard positions its commodities to serve as the underlying spot assets for planned futures contracts on the CME and exchange-traded funds on the NYSE, while also applying for regulatory oversight from the Bermuda Monetary Authority. The organization was founded in 2019 by Cormac Kinney, a quantitative finance pioneer whose previous ventures were acquired by entities including News Corp.
Diamond Standard has raised $30.0M across 1 funding round.
Diamond Standard has raised $30.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Diamond Standard has raised $30.0M across 1 funding round. Most recently, it raised $30.0M Series A in September 2022.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 1, 2022 | $30M Series A | Left Lane Capital, Murray Stahl | Ascension Ventures, Climate Capital, Comcast Ventures, CP Ventures, Endeavor8, Newlin, Origin Ventures, OurCrowd, Gordon Segal, Grant Newlin, Paul Sims, Gaingels, Republic | Announced |
Diamond Standard is a technology company that produces the world's first regulator-approved diamond commodities, transforming natural diamonds into a fungible, investable asset class worth $1.2 trillion—more than global silver and platinum combined.[1][2][3] Headquartered in New York City with Bermuda-regulated entities, it develops blockchain-integrated products like Diamond Coins and Bars, backed by certified investment-grade diamonds, enabling retail and institutional investors to trade diamonds as a liquid hard asset similar to gold.[1][2][3][5] Formerly BitCarbon and founded in 2018, it has raised $54.08M total, including a $30M Series A led by Left Lane Capital and Horizon Kinetics in 2022, serving investors via separate managed accounts (SMAs) with GBI, private funds, and a peer-to-peer spot market.[1][2][4]
The company solves diamonds' historical illiquidity and lack of standardization by using computer science optimization, blockchain authentication, and partnerships like the International Gemological Institute (IGI) for grading, while emphasizing ESG sustainability, governance, transparency, and risk management through KYC/AML, insurance, and independent vaulting.[1][3][5]
Diamond Standard was founded in 2018 by Cormac, a quant finance pioneer with degrees in computer science from Carnegie Mellon, who has launched four software startups acquired by public companies and managed over $500M for firms like Tudor and Millennium.[3] A decade ago, Cormac identified diamonds' potential as an untapped hard asset but recognized barriers like opacity and non-fungibility; leveraging his expertise in trading systems (over 100 designed), sentiment analysis, and innovations cited in nearly 4,000 U.S. patents, he pioneered diamond standardization using optimization algorithms.[1][3]
Early traction came from regulatory breakthroughs: Bermuda Monetary Authority licensed Diamond Standard Ltd. as a Digital Assets Business (license 53943) for issuing tokens, and Diamond Standard Exchange Ltd. (DSE) became the exclusive venue for sourcing loose diamonds from global vendors.[1] Pivotal moments include the 2022 $30M Series A, rebranding from BitCarbon, and 2024 launches like a blockchain payments system backed by diamonds and integration with GBI's alternative assets platform.[1][2][4][5]
Diamond Standard rides the convergence of blockchain tokenization and real-world asset (RWA) financialization, turning a $1.2T illiquid commodity into a tradable class amid rising demand for portfolio diversification beyond stocks, bonds, and traditional metals.[1][2][3][5] Timing aligns with post-2022 crypto maturation, regulatory clarity in jurisdictions like Bermuda, and investor hunger for hard assets amid inflation and geopolitical risks—diamonds offer low correlation and scarcity like gold but with untapped scale.[1][5]
Market forces favoring it include diamond supply constraints, ESG-driven ethical sourcing, and fintech adoption (e.g., tokenized payments launched 2024), positioning it in expert collections like Blockchain while influencing ecosystems via partnerships (IGI, GBI, Horizon Kinetics) that standardize diamonds for wealth managers and drive liquidity.[2][4][5] As a market-maker, it fosters price transparency, potentially reshaping jewelry/retail dynamics and inspiring RWA tokenization in other commodities.[1][3]
Diamond Standard is poised to scale as the diamond commodity gateway, with next steps including DSE expansion, more fund inflows via GBI/Horizon, and global payments adoption leveraging its 2024 blockchain system.[2][5] Trends like RWA growth (projected to trillions), AI-optimized trading, and ESG mandates will propel it, especially if diamond prices rally on supply squeezes. Its influence may evolve from niche innovator to mainstream asset manager, democratizing a trillion-dollar class—echoing gold's ETF revolution but with blockchain's edge, as it began by cracking diamonds' illiquidity code.[1][3]
Diamond Standard has raised $30.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Diamond Standard's investors include Left Lane Capital, Murray Stahl, Ascension Ventures, Climate Capital, Comcast Ventures, CP Ventures, Endeavor8, Newlin, Origin Ventures, OurCrowd, Gordon Segal, Grant Newlin.