Was your gemstone ethically sourced?You’ll soon be able to know for sure!New gemstone testing and marking techniques can tell you exactly where your diamond or emerald came from.Over recent years the gem industry is seeing a huge increase in demand for ethically sourced gemstones, but up until recently there was no definitive way to track the source of each emerald or diamond hitting the market.The gemstone industry has been on a long journey in its attempt to prevent unethically sourced stones from being sold and it looks like partnerships with technology companies could finally provide a precise and reliable method to track a stone right from its origin.Two main methods of identification and tracking have been developed so far: The Emerald Paternity Test, developed by Gemfields and Gübelin Gem Lab, is a method that allows the origin of emeralds to be identified with a simple test.The process starts during an emeralds rough, uncut phase when they have DNA-based nanoparticles applied at the mining site.

The gemstone then has its own form of DNA identity, that’s specific to each mine, thanks to the nanoparticles that can survive all steps of gemstone processing from cutting through to final polish.The particles are so small that they have no visible impact on the stone’s appearance.The stone can then be tested at any point to identify its source.This new technology allows the emerald industry to create transparency and ensure that all emeralds are sourced from ethical miners who use sustainable techniques.What do Bitcoins and diamonds have in common?Trying to prevent unethically sourced and sometimes fake diamonds from entering the market has been an ongoing battle for the gem industry but UK-based Everledger is planning to make this problem a thing of the past.Everledger has found a unique new use for Blockchain, the technology behind Bitcoin!The diamond industry has traditionally used paper certificates as authentication for diamonds, but it wasn’t common for certificates to be forged.

Everledger is combining a unique identification process that records over 40 features, including color, clarity and cut of each diamond to give the stone a unique identity.This ID is then recorded using the blockchain system, creating the stone’s digital certificate.As this certificate is based on blockchain it cannot be altered or falsified and the digital certificate is permanently stored for future reference.Since 2015, Everledger have created IDs for over 1 million diamonds!Although DNA testing and ID techniques can only currently be used on emeralds and cut diamonds respectively the gem industry is embracing the use of technology to track gem sources.This partnership of technology companies and gem industry leaders is sure to drive the development of more source tracking techniques in the future, creating a fully transparent and ethical gemstone market.Emerald Emerald Gemstones Diamonds White Diamondspage contents HomeWorld News Winklevoss bid to list the bitcoin rejected by the SEC After more than three years, The US Securities and Exchange Commission rejected a request to list the virtual currency bitcoin on the market.

The decision came as a big disappointment for Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the exchange-traded fund investors who placed the bid banck in 2013.In short, the SEC said the bitcoin is still unregulated and has a high risk of fraud.ethereum poloniexBitcoin is a (not so) new digital currency found on the Internet, through which investors are able to move money around the world quickly and with relative anonymity.man bitcoin-qtThe so-called cryptocurrency is powered by its users, with no central authority or middlemen.bitcoin bot tumblrYet bitcoin presents a new set of risks to investors given its limited adoption, a number of massive cybersecurity breaches affecting bitcoin owners and the lack of involvement from the governments.miami bitcoin conference video

The Commission said that, in order to meet its high standards, an exchange that lists and trades shares of commodity-trust exchange-traded products (ETPs) must, in addition to other applicable requirements, satisfy two important requirements.silk road bitcoin price“First, the exchange must have surveillance-sharing agreements with significant markets for trading the underlying commodity or derivatives on that commodity.fur bitcoins einkaufenAnd second, those markets must be regulated,” said the Commission in a press release.bitcoin kurs 5 jahreBut the decision is not final.bitcoin exchange sydneyThe SEC might change the verdict at a later date, when and if the bitcoin market will be regulated.dogecoin mining online

“The Commission notes that bitcoin is still in the relatively early stages of its development and that, over time, regulated bitcoin-related markets of significant size may develop.” Following SEC’s decision, bitcoin fell 18 percent in trading immediately after, but has since stabilised and even recovered, and it is priced at the time of this article at roughly 1.100 US dollars.The Winklevoss twins – who are famous for their conflict with Facebook mogul Mark Zuckerberg over who came up with the idea for the groundbreaking social media site – have stated that they understand SEC’s decision, but will not give up their efforts.“We began this journey almost four years ago, and are determined to see it through.We agree with the SEC that regulation and oversight are important to the health of any marketplace and the safety of all investors,” said Tyler Winklevoss, CFO of Digital Asset Services.About The Author Related postsBitcoin offers an efficient means of transferring money over the internet and is controlled by a decentralized network with a transparent set of rules, thus presenting an alternative to central bank controlled fiat money.

There has been a lot of talk about how to price bitcoin and we set out here to explore what bitcoin's price might look like in the event it achieves some level of widespread adoption.In this article, we seek to lay a framework for calculating a medium to long term value for bitcoin, and to empower the reader to make their own projections on the value of bitcoin.(Haven't filed your taxes yet because you don't know how to declare your virtual currency?Check out Investopedia's definitive Bitcoin IRS Tax Guide.)As part of our framework, we make several key assumptions.Our first assumption is that bitcoin will derive its value both from its use as a medium of exchange and as a store of value.As a footnote to this assumption, it should be stated that bitcoin's utility as a store of value is dependent on its utility as a medium of exchange.We base this in turn on the assumption that for something to be used as a store of value it needs to have some intrinsic value, and if bitcoin does not achieve success as a medium of exchange, it will have no practical utility and thus no intrinsic value and won't be appealing as a store of value.

Our second assumption is that the supply of bitcoin will approach 21 million as specified in the current protocol.To give some context, the current supply of bitcoin is around 13.25 million, the rate at which bitcoin is released decreases by half roughly every four years, and the supply should get past 19 million in the year 2022.The key part of this assumption is that the protocol will not be changed.Note that changing the protocol would require the concurrence of a majority of the computing power engaged in bitcoin mining.Our third assumption is that as bitcoin gains legitimacy, larger scale investors, and more adoption, its volatility will decrease to the point that volatility is not a concern that would discourage adoption.Our fourth assumption is that the current value of bitcoin is largely driven by speculative interest.Bitcoin has exhibited characteristics of a bubble with drastic price run-ups and a craze of media attention in 2013 and 2014.But speculative interest in bitcoin, we assume, will decline as it achieves adoption.

And our fifth assumption is that the use of bitcoin will never involve fractional reserve banking and that all means of storing bitcoin will be fully backed by bitcoin.We will look at bitcoin as currency and bitcoin as a store of value.In order to place a value on bitcoin we need to project what market penetration it will achieve in each sphere.This article will not make a case for what the market penetration will be, but for the sake of the evaluation, we'll pick a rather arbitrary value of 15%, both for bitcoin as a currency and bitcoin as a store of value.You are encouraged to form your own opinion for this projection and adjust the valuation accordingly.The simplest way to approach the model would be to look at the current worldwide value of all mediums of exchange and of all stores of value comparable to bitcoin, and calculate the value of bitcoin's projected percentage.The predominant medium of exchange is government backed money, and for our model we will focus solely on them.The money supply is often thought of as broken into different buckets, M0, M1, M2, and M3.

M0 refers to currency in circulation.M1 is M0 plus demand deposits like checking accounts.M2 is M1 plus savings accounts and small time deposits (known as certificates of deposit in the US).M3 is M2 plus large time deposits and money market funds.Since M0 and M1 are readily accessible for use in commerce, we will consider these two buckets as medium of exchange, whereas M2 and M3 will be considered as money being used as a store of value.Citing the DollarDaze blog, we see that M1 (which includes M0) in 2010 was worth about 25 trillion US dollars, which will serve as our current world wide value of mediums of exchange.From the same DollarDaze blog, we see that M3 (which includes all the other buckets) minus M1 is worth about 45 trillion US dollars.We will include this as a store of value that is comparable to bitcoin.To this, we will also add an estimate for the worldwide value of gold held as a store of value.While some may use jewelry as a store of value, for our model we will only consider gold bullion.

The US Geological Survey estimated that at the end of 1999, there were about 122,000 metric tons of available above-ground gold.Of this, 48%, or 58,560 metric tons, was in the form of private and official bullion stocks.At an estimated current price of $1200 per troy ounce, that amount of gold is today worth upwards of 2.1 trillion US dollars.Since there has recently been a deficit in the supply of silver and governments have been selling significant amounts of their silver bullion, we reason that most silver is being used in industry and not as a store of value, and will not include silver in our model.Neither will we treat other precious metals or gemstones.In aggregate, our estimate for the global value of stores of value comparable to bitcoin, including savings accounts, small and large time deposits, money market funds, and gold bullion, come to 47.1 trillion US dollars.Our total estimate for global value of mediums of exchange and stores of value thus comes to 72.1 trillion US dollars.

If bitcoin were to achieve 15% of this valuation, its market capitalization in today's money would be 10.8 trillion US dollars.With 21 million bitcoin in circulation, that would put the price of 1 bitcoin at $514,000.That would be over 1,000 times the current price.This is a rather simple long term model.And perhaps the biggest question it hinges on is how much adoption will bitcoin achieve?Coming up with a value for the current price of bitcoin would involve pricing in the risk of low adoption or failure of bitcoin as a currency, which could include being displaced by one or more other digital currencies.Models often consider the velocity of money, frequently arguing that since bitcoin can support transfers that take less than an hour, the velocity of money in the future bitcoin ecosystem will be higher than the current average velocity of money.Another view on this though would be that velocity of money is not restricted by today's payment rails in any significant way and that its main determinant is the need or willingness of people to transact.