SwissDiamondCoinTM Lets Institutional Investors Embrace Tokenized Diamonds as New Asset Class for Their Portfolio

ABC Platform, a CommodiTech project providing the necessary infrastructure and market network to open up difficult-to-handle and hard-to-access commodities to a global audience, publicly released its first product, SwissDiamondCoin^TM CHD.

Institutional investors can place orders for CHD via www.swissdiamondcoin.com with immediate effect.

SwissDiamondCoin^TM is a digital currency on the Blockchain* (*not a security or derivative). CHD is re-imagining investment diamonds as an institutional-grade asset class, for portfolio diversification, inflation hedging, as cash alternative and more.

Investment diamonds have been stable stores of values for hundreds of years, playing essential hedging roles during times of economic uncertainty. With its open-source pricing model, SwissDiamondCoin^TM adds full transparency to this asset class. Each and every CHD is based on high-quality diamonds which are independently graded, certified, insured and stored in a high-security Swiss Freeport vault. Owners of CHD have the free, equal choice to exchange their digital tokens against the physical diamonds they are based on, as opposed to basket investment vehicles or fractional ownership. All CHD are issued on the blockchain by the Liechtenstein-based non-profit, public-benefit SwissDiamondCoin Foundation, who properly ring-fences the diamond asset base, and coordinates all service providers.

A very important requirement for public and institutional trust is Know-Your-Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money-Laundering (AML) compliance. ABC Platform closely collaborated with the Liechtenstein financial regulator on the topic, and it has partnered with Consensys' uPort to create an innovative KYC/AML app. This app makes ABC Platform one of the very first blockchain projects to comply with all applicable regulatory requirements of KYC/AML, while still respecting the principle of data self-sovereignty of the user.

Institutional investors can now embrace diamonds as a new, uncorrelated asset class.

The suppliers of highest quality diamonds for SwissDiamondCoin^TM include the Diamondas Group, led by Dr. Ulrich Freiesleben, who has been member of the globally largest diamond exchange in Antwerp for over 30 years and has been exclusive supplier of precious stones for many prestigious clients such as Bugatti. Lead buyers for SwissDiamondCoin^TM include large institutional clients but also wealthy individuals.

Dr. Ulrich Freiesleben, founder of Diamondas, said:

"SwissDiamondCoin^TM provides a very innovative solution that the diamond industry has been waiting for a long time, combining financial, technological and legal expertise. For centuries diamonds have been a guardian of value, but not yet really investable. Now for the first time they have transparent pricing and are open to all through the Blockchain. We are very happy to contribute with our experience. Congratulations to the "Einstein" solution for diamonds (Einstein in German means "one stone")"

Jon Turnes, Executive Chairman of Ruvercap Investments, an Asset Manager with close to USD 1 billion AuMs, buyer of SwissDiamondCoin^TM, said:

"For an institutional investment manager, the possibility to diversify cash holdings with stable, secure cryptocurrency opens up interesting options. SwissDiamondCoin^TM has a best-in-class setup, both technically and with regards to the underlying structure, and is 100% based on investment diamonds. This makes for a very interesting candidate in a portfolio."

The Foundation and ABC Platform continue to partner with stakeholders in catalyzing a market for SwissDiamondCoin^TM. A roster of partnerships will be announced in the following months.

ABC Platform was selected as a Top 5 Startup (Growth Stage) for the prestigious Swiss Fintech Awards – to contextualize, Zurich ranks 2^nd as a global Fintech innovation city according to Thomson Reuter's recent survey.

ABC Platform's team and advisors consists of experts from various industries and academia (PhDs). They have previously worked for companies like Google, McKinsey, Polkadot/Web3 foundation, Ethereum, Deutsche Bank, UBS, Merrill Lynch, SwissRe, Lufthansa and others. Dr. Mathias Bucher, the founder of ABC Platform, has been involved in several high profile Blockchain Projects in the past such as OTC Swiss Blockchain, where he lead a large Swiss Industry Consortium. Dr. Bucher also architected the City of Zug eID Project, and is an advisor to Web3 Foundation / Polkadot.

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