Physically Backed Diamond Investment Site Picking Up Steam In Europe, Eyeing U.S. Market

(Kitco News) – After finding a way to turn diamonds into an affordable investment option, InvestDiamond.com has seen a growing interest in Europe as the company looks to expand to North America.

Using a specific criteria for the diamonds included in their batches, InvestDiamond has managed to bypass the main issue with diamonds being turned into an investment product –which is no two diamonds are alike and therefore impossible to attribute a fixed price to a cluster of diamonds.

InvestDiamond’s physically-backed batches of similar stones are then fractioned as members place bids for as little as $15 or €11, while prices are based on real-time orders on the site and the Rapaport price.

The diamonds are kept in Swiss vaults in the Freeport zone, outside of the banking system.

Launched Nov. 30, InvestDiamond has “two 26-carat batches that are in circulation and we’re working on getting the third one ready,” said Linnea Bruce, project manager at InvestDiamond.

Based in France, InvestDiamond has been testing the waters locally before expanding its reach to other parts of the world, with the U.S. as its next main target.

“Our members are mostly in Europe – we wanted to get some feedback and stability in Europe first before we transitioned to the U.S. market,” Bruce said.

One way they’re looking into capturing the attention of the U.S. market is by introducing a physically backed gold, silver and investment diamond debit card.

InvestDiamond’s parent company, AuCOFFRE.com, already has a physically backed gold debit card, called the Vera Carte, that it has put into circulation and used in France over the last few years.  

The success of the card has led InvestDiamond to add silver and diamonds to the card as they are currently in the beta testing phase.

“By year-end it should be out of beta testing and available to the general public,” Bruce said. “You can credit your account with $1,000 and have 60% backed with gold, 20% with silver and 20% with diamonds, for example.”

Bruce said it can used as a regular debit card. It’s accompanied with a pin for usage and is recognized by Master Card.

She also added that they hired a new card distributor, allowing the debit cards to be available for usage worldwide.

“Once we get that launched in France, we’ll be looking for a partner with experience in that concept to bring it over to North America,” Bruce said.

The current outlook for supply and demand metrics in the diamond space has experts pointing to diminishing supply, with a lack of new discoveries and older operations reaching the end of their mine life.

On the other hand, demand is expected to continually expand as the middle classes in China and India are expected to grow rapidly over the next decade.