World's first diamond exchange to be launched in Singapore

SDiX is backed by Temasek.

The world's first commodities exchange in physically settled diamonds will go live in Singapore in September 2015.

The platform will be launched by Singapore Diamond Investment Exchange Pte Ltd (SDiX), which is funded by Temasek subsidiary Vertex Ventures.

The SDiX platform is designed to deliver price transparency and liquidity to the diamond market through a real-time price discovery mechanism, allowing diamonds to be traded as a commodity.

This will lead to the creation of a new asset class, according to a release by SDiX.

"SDiX will provide a self-regulated marketplace for both diamond and financial traders as well as accredited investors to acquire stones at a market price that is driven by real time transactional data. This will result in the homogenization of diamonds, simplifying the manner in which they are valued and hence allowing them to be traded as a commodity," said Alain Vandenborre, Executive Chairman, Founder and controlling shareholder of SDiX.

He added that the platform will allow matching trades above 500,000 transactions per second.

Diamond supply will be initially provided by key members of the Bharat Diamond Bourse, the world’s largest diamond market.