LARIMAR GOES TO DIGITAL
Semi-Precious Gem Meets Stellar
One might think that these days it is very cliché to see blockchain and cryptocurrency technology as a panacea for all that is wrong in our world, or for anything that needs improvement. However, it wouldn’t be smart to not recognize the revolution and disruption that bitcoin and its “children,” in this case Stellar, are causing in many aspects of our lives. Therefore, it shouldn’t be any surprise that when a community of miners, who’s entire livelihood revolves around a gorgeous gem called Larimar, saw the same being threatened, their solution was to turn to Stellar, its super secured network and decentralized exchange for the solution.
Larimar is a semi-precious stone only found in one place in the entire world, a dead volcano in the Caribbean island called Hispaniola, on the side of the Dominican Republic. Larimar or Blue Stones of Atlantis as it is also known internationally, ranks among the top five most rare gems in the world. Surprisingly, it is highly undervalue although it has already managed to achieved a multimillion dollar market. That was to be expected, forgetting about how rare and unique the stone is, its most valuable attribute is its sheer beauty.
The community of miners of Larimar have long been let down by the exporters that come from many different countries who often times take the stones with only a promise to pay back when they return. Many months later, when they do, they pay for the gems that they took on their previous trip but take a new shipment with the same feeble currency they used once before, another promise. It was the idea of an outsider, someone that frequents the region regularly that offered the solution: Change currency and change the buyers. Larimar had to go digital.