Diamonds : EI Weekend 3290
Lab grown diamonds threaten to upend a $40 billion dollar industry with roots going back millennia.
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MACRO THOUGHTS
A $41.4 billion dollar market annually, the diamond trade is growing at around 3–3.5% per annum albeit a huge revolution is taking place with US engagement rings made of much cheaper lab grown diamonds taking 52% of the US market in 2024.
One issue with the diamond market remains a lack of standardisation — different regions apply different standards and mined diamonds are rarely identical thus producing a problem with, for instance diamond exchanges in the parish organised sense for the trading of fungible product. Some exchange efforts have to date tried and failed, notably the Singapore Diamond Exchange in the past decade. That said new standards are being applied in the US for lab grown diamonds which might be a step towards some degree of homogenisation
GIA To Use New Descriptive Terminology For Laboratory — Grown Diamonds
Instore Mag.
Vast bazaar style exchange marketplaces continue to trade in the likes of Antwerp, New York and the “Dubai Diamond Exchange” the world’s largest tender facility in the DMCC (Hamdan bin Mohammed Visits World’s Largest Diamond Tender Facility At DMCC (MSN)).
However, with the surge in lab grown product, the industry is facing a crisis: The Diamond Industry Is In Deep Crisis, And The Century-Old Marketing Myth Has Been Shattered? (NAI 500).
IN BIGWORLD
From Exchange Invest 3288:
Whether your mantra is “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend” or “Diamonds are forever” there’s a wholesale upheaval in the market. Having been barely in single figures a decade ago, lab grown diamonds broker the 50% level in American engagement ring sales. Price would appear to be a key factor. Mined diamonds cost on average $3895 in the US during Q1 2025 while a lab cultivated unbranded 1 carat diamond cost on average $845.
BITCARNAGE
Back To Netflix
The first law of crypto is the lawyers win. The second law of crypto is that the TV companies get a lot of content. Hence…TV Series On Sam Bankman-Fried And Crypto Firm FTX Heads To Netflix (The Guardian).
The meme era adage of “picture it or it didn’t happen” is alas writ large over the crypto scams even as the bros try to push it all under a very very large carpet, of a scale methinks even Turkey or Iran might struggle to make in a single rug.
If you enjoyed this excerpt you may be interested to know that you can read Bitcarnage every day in Exchange Invest.
Alternatively, if you want to follow Bitcarnage — the daily update on happenings in the world of crypto and digital assets, then you can find Bitcarnage as a standalone on Substack.
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& There’s A Kenyan CEO Pickle.
OF INTEREST
As always, a review of interesting reading to provoke thoughts and consideration… Not sure we agree with much of it….but it’s thought-provoking!
Diamond History: How A Luxury Became A Common Fashion Accessory
HistoryPlex
The History Of Diamond: An In-Depth Guide
Old Cut Diamond
Diamonds Through The Ages
Cape Town Diamond Museum
Diamonds Timeline
Galeries du Diamant
Lab-Grown Diamonds vs. Natural — What Are The Differences?
The Diamonds Pro
Lab Grown vs. Natural Diamonds: What’s The Difference?
Brilliant Earth
Books worth reading:
Finance Book Of The Week
“Progress: Ten Reasons to Look Forward to the Future ” by Johan Norberg traces just how far we have come in tackling the issues facing our species. Progress is a call for renewed hope in defiance of the doom-mongering of politicians and the media.
Get the book here.
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Suggestions welcome if you would like to nominate a book for us to cover!
Our next Book of the week will be unveiled Saturday in the EI Weekend Edition.
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Capital Market Revolution
First published in 1999, “Capital Market Revolution!” offered a clear, concise roadmap for navigating the financial revolution fueled by technology. And 25 years later, as the world of fintech continues to evolve, the core principles laid out in the book remain surprisingly sharp
This new edition was produced to celebrate PLY ringing the NYSE Closing Bell July 5th, 2024. There are several new sections of PLY pith to add 10,000 more words of context and the original book which is remarkably prescient and elegantly dated all at once! It’s only $9.99 on Kindle, a fraction of the original price in 1999 to encourage revolutionaries with any budget!
Get the book here.
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LAST WORD
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