Diamonds were largely inaccessible to investors until the recent advent of regulated commodities, due to a lack of price discovery and transparency. The characteristics of individual diamonds, especially the carat weight, color and clarity, have significant impact on values, but transactions were always private. With the standardized commodity as an underlying asset, several market traded financial instruments have been announced. Diamond Standard Commodities Diamond Standard is the producer of an exchange traded, regulated diamond commodity. Equivalent to a standard gold bar for the diamond market, the diamond coin and bar enable investors to access an estimated $1.2 trillion asset class for the first time. Futures contracts are in development by CFTC-licensees, and an investment trust launched in 2022. The commodity makes diamonds accessible to fund managers because the commodity is marked-to-market daily. The coin and bar are physical, and each contains a standardized set of diamonds, graded and certified by the GIA. The diamonds are acquired using an automated market-making and statistical sampling process. The geological details of the diamonds is stored on a public blockchain. Market Prices Diamond prices are influenced by global trends. The largest markets are USA (about half), China and India. Since 2008, larger diamonds have appreciated better than smaller ones. Price fluctuations Polished diamond prices vary widely depending on a diamond's carat, color, clarity and cut, sometimes referred to as the 4 Cs. In contrast to precious metals, there is no universal world price per gram for diamonds. The industry refers to price guides. Rough diamond prices have historically been impacted by the mining companies controlling supply, most notably De Beers. However, after the dismantling of the De Beers cartel in 2001, the industry is now more fragmented resulting in a higher percentage of diamond sales taking place in the form of auctions and other forms of open-market sales. Financial feasibility Synthetic diamonds Since the 1950s, techniques can produce gem-quality diamonds of essentially any desired chemistry in sizes up to about 1cm. Although some manufacturers do label their synthetic diamonds with serial numbers there is no guarantee that a given diamond is not man made, although sometimes an unnatural chemical composition or pattern of flaws may suggest a diamond is synthetic. It is much cheaper to produce diamonds through artificial synthesis than to mine them, although currently the cost of synthesis is still significant. The inability to guarantee that a diamond is naturally occurring could