News
Articles
Financial Times
AUGUST 19, 2022
From diamonds to wine, investors rush to luxury collectibles
“Demand for collectibles…is soaring as appetite for recession-proof inflation hedges grows. Wary of overpriced, volatile stocks and bored to tears [by] low-yielding bonds, investors are increasingly pushing into niche asset classes such as wine, baseball cards, sneakers and diamonds.
“…where there is money to be made, Wall Street will soon be. And while interest from investment firms has risen slowly…there has been a sea change in the past six months. ‘Now hedge funds and professional investors are carving out pieces of the pie to put their money in…. Investment firms represent about a third of collectible purchasers, a trend that is gaining speed as US inflation hovers around 8.5 per cent.. …This autumn is set to be a bumper season.
“…While gold bars can be purchased in increments as an inflation hedge, investors couldn’t break a diamond into shares without destroying its value. Now, professional investors are turning the once privately hoarded assets into publicly investable, diversified offerings for clients. In July, Ben Cleary, portfolio manager at Tribeca Investment Partners, helped raise $50mn for a fund that holds rare pale-violet Argyle diamonds, with a minimum investment of $1mn.
“Luxus, founded by former Blackstone veteran Dana Auslander, is trying to catch this trend by bringing diamond investments to retail investors at a lower price point. Though investors might not be able to afford a rare 11.7-carat yellow diamond, they will be able to own shares of it. Luxus plans to IPO the $1.7mn “Golden Dahlia” diamond in early September.”
The New York Times
March 24, 2022
Jewelry Decorates the Metaverse
“Icecap, a diamond NFT marketplace founded in 2020 by Jacques Voorhees, is… the high jewelry category. …He established the company to solve what he described as a decades-long problem: that diamonds “should be a valid hard asset diversification choice for hard asset investors.” Icecap buys newly cut diamonds from manufacturers, stores them in an insured vault and makes them available for sale as NFTs. …“So it creates a level of security, a level of authentication,” Mr. Voorhees said, “that makes it easy for buyers and sellers to trade…back and forth. In its first quarter, Mr. Voorhees said, Icecap did $2,000 in sales; in the second, $39,000; the third, $186,000, and the fourth, $935,000. For the first quarter of 2022, he said, it is on track to achieve $3 million.”
Vogue
Can NFTs work for luxury jewellery?
“The result is Icecap, a startup that is the first company to offer investment-grade diamonds through NFT technology. Jacques Voorhees, now CEO, says NFTs solve an issue that has long troubled the diamond industry. Diamonds are not a tradeable, liquid asset class like gold or silver. As soon as a diamond leaves a jeweller’s shop, it loses value, maybe commanding only 50 per cent of its purchase price.”
Observer
September 8, 2020
Investing In Diamonds Is a Bad Idea, Can a New Cryptocurrency Change That?
CoinTelegraph
July 15, 2020
Diamonds Are (Finally) Forever on the Ethereum Blockchain
“Non fungible tokens (NFT) representing diamonds have made their way to the OpenSea marketplace. The problem that Icecap solves is that it is currently almost impossible for retail investors to sell diamonds without a steep discount as there is no secondary market.”
Invezz
July 15, 2020
Jacques Voorhees-founded Icecap puts diamonds on Ethereum blockchain
“Icecap managed to tokenize diamonds after several firms attempted to tokenize diamonds and other precious stones in the past and failed.”
Video Interviews
Hack Crypto
September 2, 2020
Diamond Backed NFTs | Interview with Icecap CEO Jacques Voorhees
Audio Interviews
The Silicon Valley Insider Show
September 8, 2020
Icecap – Tokenization of Investment Grade Diamonds
“On this week’s Silicon Valley Insider, Keith Koo’s guest is Jacques Voorhees, CEO of Icecap Diamonds a company that is creating a two-way marketplace for investment-grade diamonds using Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).”