Russian mining giant Alrosa, in collaboration with Everledger and Tencent, is launching a new e-commerce solution on WeChat where buyers can track the origin, characteristics and ownership history of their diamonds through blockchain technology.

This programme will place transparent and secure diamond information at the fingertips of approximately a billion active WeChat users, revealed Alrosa. It is also the first initiative to capitalise on the synergy between Everledger and WeChat creator Tencent. WeChat is one of the world’s largest social media and e-commerce platforms.

“The WeChat Mini Program pilot will showcase diamonds from Alrosa, enabling full traceability from mine to consumer,” the miner said. “It will be offered as a white label API for jewellery manufacturers and retailers in China who wish to offer consumers more innovative and insightful stories about their products and their brand, and so expand their e-commerce proposition.” 

This programme will enable a better informed and more secure purchase for consumers as well as a more seamless online-to-offline user experience. By enabling new touch points between consumers, jewellery manufacturers and retailers, the Mini Program is seen to encourage brand differentiation in the highly competitive Chinese luxury market.

According to Alrosa, consumers will be offered "unprecedented levels of transparency and trust" around the origin, characteristics and authenticity of the jewellery they purchase. Using the WeChat Mini Program on their smartphone, consumers can check an individual diamond's full provenance and unique certificate information, purchase the diamond in the Mini Program using WeChat Pay, and attest its ownership through the Everledger blockchain platform.

Alrosa will provide information on diamonds from Russia, thus enabling consumers to know the exact origin of each stone and have certainty around its sustainable and ethical footprint. 

Pavel Vinikhin of Alrosa commented, “This collaboration with the most popular social media platform in China will help us to further strengthen our sales there.”

Evgeny Gokhberg of Everledger meanwhile remarked, “By providing 100 percent certainty of a diamond’s origin and journey to the consumer in an easy-to-experience online platform such as WeChat, we are confident that this innovation will set a new standard when it comes to traceability and responsible business practices.”