About Icecap
What We Do, How You Benefit, & Who We Are
What We Do
Icecap is a private company which operates a buy/sell trading platform for investment-grade diamonds. Our revenue comes from transaction fees. or margins, on the trading.
Each diamond that qualifies for the Icecap marketplace must have not only a GIA Certificate, but also a GCAL grading report which agrees with the GIA document. These and other safeguards allow Icecap’s trading marketplace to operate at a price level roughly ten percent above wholesale, and significantly below the prices of most retail stores, for comparable product. We call this the “investment price level,” and it yields for financial buyers a means to buy and sell diamonds without the deep “spreads” that would normally accompany a retail purchase and subsequent sale.
Our primary mission is to maintain a safe, transparent, and ethical marketplace for diamond investors.
How You Benefit
We help you add diamonds to that portfolio, while avoiding the pitfalls that diamonds have historically presented to investors.
Why We Do It:
We hate inflation and want to protect you from the damage it causes.
For thousands of years, diamonds have been a store of wealth that has stood the test of time. But the traditional diamond market favors jewelry buyers, not investors. By combining modern technology with the structure of a metals market, Icecap delivers you—the investor—something new, unique, and valuable to add to your hard asset portfolio.
How You Benefit:
A diversified portfolio, peace of mind in a chaotic world, and a way to savor the assets you own in more than just financial terms.
Why you might want to invest in diamonds:
- Diamonds are the most lightweight and portable form of wealth. A million dollars of value can easily fit inside a shirt pocket.
- Diamonds generally outpace monetary inflation, though with less volatility than gold.
- Finally, diamonds can be enjoyed as jewelry, while taking their place in your hard asset portfolio.
Icecap helps you enjoy those benefits, in a comparable structure to gold and silver investing.
Company Background
Icecap was founded in January 2020 by Jacques Voorhees, the inventor of online trading marketplaces for the diamond industry, and his son Erik Voorhees, a well-recognized serial entrepreneur in the fintech and blockchain industries.
Beginning in 2020, annual sales grew from $50,000 the first year, to $1.1 million in 2021, to over $4 million in 2022. The company operates internationally, and—through its relationship with logistics provider Malca-Amit, is able to deliver/receive diamonds to/from buyers/sellers anywhere in the world, and/or store them at any of Malca-Amit’s global vaulting facilities.
The Team
The perfect union of diamond and fintech expertise.
Jacques Voorhees
CEO
Jacques is the inventor of online diamond trading marketplaces. He is the founder and past president of Polygon, one of the most disruptive initiatives to hit the diamond industry in the last fifty years. Polygon—for the first time—allowed diamonds to be traded globally by computer networks, and with transparent price comparisons. Several million dollars of diamonds are traded every day on Polygon—and even more on the many copy-cat sites that now exist. He has also helped establish online diamond marketplaces for private groups such as American Gem Society, Independent Jewelers Organization, and De Beers’ Forevermark brand. Jacques was named one of the jewelry industry’s most influential people, by JCK Magazine.
Erik Voorhees
Investor/Advisor
Erik Voorhees is among the top-recognized serial Bitcoin advocates and entrepreneurs, understanding Bitcoin as one of the most important inventions ever created by humanity. Having been a featured guest on Bloomberg, Fox Business, CNBC, and numerous Bitcoin and industry conferences, Erik humbly suggests that there is no such thing as a “free market” when the institution of money itself is centrally planned and controlled. Erik is Jacques Voorhees’ son.
Bill Boyajian
Investor/Advisor
Bill is the past president (1986-2006) of the prestigious Gemological Institute of America—the global educational organization that invented the 4 C’s diamond grading standards. Today, he is an industry consultant.
Krista Olson-Blundell
COO
Jeffrey Fischer
Investor/Advisor
Jeff is CEO of one of the most respected wholesale diamond companies in North America, Fischer Diamonds. Jeff is also Chairman Emeritus of the Jewelers Vigilance Committee (the jewelry industry’s ethics watchdog group), and President Emeritus of the International Diamond Manufacturers Association (the global trade association for the diamond industry.)
Michael Terpin
Investor/Advisor
Michael Terpin is founder and CEO of Transform Group which has served more than 200 clients in the blockchain field and helped launch more than 100 ICO’s including Ethereum. Terpin is also co-founder of BitAngels, the world’s first angel network for digital currency/ blockchain startups. Previously Terpin founded Marketwired, one of the world’s largest company newswires, which was acquired in 2006 and later sold to NASDAQ for $200 million.