Israeli blockchain start-up Carats.io won the first prize at the Blockchain ProSeed Tokyo Competition held on May 11, 2018.

In partnership with the Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE), Carats.io had recently launched the first cryptocurrency based on diamonds.

 The young start-up was up against eight other blockchain projects -- from Russia, Ukraine, United States, Philippines, Romania and Slovenia.  

Carats.io won unanimously in all five categories: Technology, Team, Market Potential, Credibility and Achievements. “The vote was held among the attendees, all Japanese blockchain enthusiasts,” the Company revealed when making the announcement.

 Crats.io was last month also adjudged  the first prize winner of the ICO Summit and Competition held from April 10 – 12 in Kazan, Russia. A major international gathering, the summit was attended by more than 350 participants, including 25 companies from 17 countries. 

 “Carats.io is issuing the first digital coin backed by diamonds, thereby creating the first-ever viable secondary market for diamond commerce that combines the stability of diamonds with the liquidity of cryptocurrency,” the Company proclaimed. “The coin, CARAT, is 100% redeemable for diamonds because it is backed by real certified diamonds, audited by international accounting first Ernst & Young. Currently in presale, there are large subscriptions for the token through the company website.”

In Tokyo,  as part of a series of road shows organised in various important Asian centres, including Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea and Japan, the Carats.io executive team reported   “outstanding results” for the private sale held there.

The company has raised US$ 1.6 million in its first funding round led by Net Capital Ventures, an Israeli venture capital fund. 

 CEO Avishai Shoushan said  Carats.io has been a clear winner among blockchain projects due to its cutting edge technology and innovative product. “We offer investors a real opportunity to enter the heretofore closed diamond trade. Carats.io is bringing diamonds – the world’s most precious commodity – to financial markets as a safe, transparent and liquid financial asset,” he said. 

Using state-of-the-art Big Data and blockchain technologies to tokenize diamonds, Carats.io  has created the Diamond Pricing Algorithm (DPA) which compares individual diamond grades to daily market conditions, based on not less than 14 diamond parameters. “The DPA has been deployed so far on over $11 billion worth of diamonds,” the Company elaborated. “Carats.io has also created the Get-Diamond Index (GDX), the first diamond market index of its kind, based on the daily trading data on Get-Diamonds.com, the Israeli diamond industry's official B2B trading site.”

Pic Cap: Carats.io CEO Avishai Shoushan speaking at Blockchain ProSeed Tokyo Competition