An American firm has been approved a patent for a system of grading polished diamonds which would permit them to be traded on the securities market. Chicago-based Cemshares invented ten levels in which diamonds of every carat, colour, clarity and cut can be quantified.
The indexing of diamonds will allow them to become part of Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) and other financial packages that can be traded on the stock market, and can ultimately be speculated over. Potentially, this could create an enormous change in the diamond trade, as it can sometimes take a long ti me to find a buyer for a diamond today, owing to its individual particularities and uniqueness.