Uphold brings diamond industry to fintech with AWDC partnership

Posted On 04 Feb 2016

Tag: Anthony Watson, Antwerp World Diamond Center, Ari Epstein, AWDC, AWDC traders, Diamond industry, FinTech, Uphold

Cloud-based services financial firm Uphold announced in a press release sent to CoinReport that it’s been selected as a fintech partner by Antwerp World Diamond Center (AWDC). Uphold’s blog post discussing the announcement explained the company was just one of two fintech companies selected by AWDC for the partnership.

Bitreserve is now ‘Uphold’, also connects banks, credit & debit cards to digital wallets

Uphold president & CEO Anthony Watson.

Anthony Watson, Uphold president and CEO, said in the release that the company was honored for the selection:

“It speaks volumes to rapid-pace change that fintech is bringing to every industry in every corner of the world, including one of the oldest world-wide trade industries.”

Indeed, Uphold’s technology brings a new way for AWDC’s diamond traders to interact within their industry. Traders are now able to conduct transactions instantly and securely across 190 countries free of charge. Transactions can be conducted in any currency or form of value traders prefer.

AWDC traders are now able to save millions of dollars a year due to Uphold’s elimination of forex spreads and cost and settlement delays.

Last year, more than $48 billion USD worth of diamonds were exported and imported through AWDC. In a notice posted on its site, AWDC explained the troubles facing the diamond industry today, including a global decline in sales and economic struggles in countries like China. These difficulties are what pushed AWDC to partner with fintech companies to meet the industry’s “alternative financial services for international transactions.”

Ari Epstein, AWDC CEO, expressed enthusiasm with the Uphold partnership, saying:

“We are confident that Uphold’s platform will save time and money for our members and ease the burdens that can be associated with sending funds internationally.”

Uphold also announced the opening of its third European office, located in Antwerp, Belgium, to provide direct support to AWDC and its trading partners.

Image credits:

Uphold logo and Anthony Watson’s photo – Via Uphold’s press kit

AWDC logo – Via AWDC’s press release

About the Author

Carlo is a copywriter with experience covering a variety of industries including cryptocurrencies, oilfield drilling and video gaming. In his free time, Carlo enjoys collecting records, getting destroyed at Team Fortress 2 and parosing sites like Reddit, absorbing what the internet has to offer.