The United Arab Emirates-based chair of the Kimberley Process (KP) has proposed using ‘blockchain’ technology to enhance security and prevent conflict diamonds from entering the market.
Blockchain is a list of transactions that take place in a peer-to-peer network. It enables users to share a digital ledger across a network of computers without the need for a central authority to clear transactions, while making it impossible to tamper with records.
Ahmed Bin Sulayem, the KP chair for 2016 , met with Blockchain technology providers to discuss ways of adapting the tool to the KP Certification Scheme. Blockchain could be “immensely important” to the KP’s future, helping eradicate false certificates and reducing the impact of human error while uploading data, the KP chair’s office said in a mid-year report.
Bin Sulayem’s office is working on a potential pilot project that would use fintech, or financial technology, to monitor KP statistics. An update will be provided at the organization’s plenary meeting in November.
“Adopting Blockchain technology would be a long process requiring a great deal of research,” the report cautioned. “Cost and complexity of implementation would also be significant.”
