Pure Diamond Farm eyes US$200m on ICO to fuel growth of lab-grown diamonds business

Two-thirds of the fund will go to plant and equipment investment, intellectual property rights, and R&D.

When Hideyuki Abe established Pure Diamond Farm, a company that is looking to manufacture lab-grown diamonds that exhibit completely the same characteristics as nature-made ones, he ditched the traditional fundraising route and is now eyeing to raise US$200m through a token sale. The deciding factor was speed, and Abe believed that it was important to get a firm footing in what he believes will be a highly promising industry due to the intrinsic advantages that lab-grown diamonds provide compared to expensive, low-supply nature-made diamonds. “This market is new and I wanted to start this project as soon as possible, so I chose ICO in Singapore.” Abe said.

A favourable market
Abe, who has familiarity with launching ICOs through his other company, said the most important aspect with the Pure Diamond Farm project is speed as other players, including big-name jewellery brands start to also look into making lab-grown diamonds. “With the vast knowledge and blockchain expertise of Jun Kawasaki, the white hat hacker who solved Japan’s high-profile NEM coins theft, we’re confident that our blockchain will be highly stable and equipped with strong security features to prevent cryptocurrency hacks and theft,” he said.

The Pure Diamond ICO is scheduled on September 11 to November 15, 2018, and the company will offer investors cryptographic currency called Pure Diamond Coin, which can then be used for trading its lab-grown diamonds that take around one-a-half months to produce from a process involving carbon, gas and electricity. “Lab-grown diamonds can have a lot of different colors and sizes that nature-made diamonds cannot or may be very difficult to have,” he said. “It’s quite difficult to make nature-made diamonds very thick. But for lab-grown diamonds, it is easy to create any type and size -- so if you want to make the ideal jewellery pieces, it’s easy to design and make different colors and shapes.”

Abe is also confident that the company’s lab-grown diamonds, which he said has zero impurities, will fetch a high value in the market, citing how nature-made diamonds with a lot of impurities still sell for a high price. He estimated that 98% of nature-made diamonds are not very pure, with many other materials mixed into the diamond. Nature-made diamonds are also scarce, but lab-grown diamonds will have a more stably supply and pricing, he added.
Pure Diamond Farm plans to use roughly two-thirds for the proceeds from its ICO, which will end when the company reaches the hard cap of US$200m, for plant and equipment investment, research a nd development and intellectual property rights.

The company noted though that Pure Diamond Coin token holders do not have the right to purchase a certain amount of any physical diamonds or similar benefits, nor will they receive any dividends or revenue from the company or its affiliates. There is also no assurance that it will buy back Pure Diamond Coin tokens from any person. However, Abe said the company has a two-phase project plan to ensure the sustainability of the tokens. The first phase is where investors can exchange Pure Diamond Coin for lab-grown diamonds, which the company then sells to retail shops and jewelry brands, which in turn sell them to end-consumers. The second phase is when the company pushes for the Pure Diamond Coin to have “segmental functions” so they can be used for daily expenses such as buying a train ticket or convenient store items.

“We expect there will be a B2B and B2C system that will be completely finished,” he said. Abe said the company chose to create its own blockchain network because it is different from other virtual currencies which are tied to virtual assets. “If you buy the Pure Diamond Coin, the capital will be used to buy real equipment to manufacture diamonds. After all the infrastructure is finished, so the machine can manufacture diamonds every day, every year. ”

Pure Diamond Farm also wanted to provide traceability for its lab-grown diamonds. “We actually use blockchain technology to give traceability to help the consumer know it’s birthday, what cut it is and make it clear to the consumer what type of diamond they hold. They can confirm the value of their diamond.”
“Through the blockchain technology, we give every diamond a story,” Abe added. “With nature-made diamonds, there is no story; you just know they just mined it from the mountain but you don’t know any other things about it.”