Diamond Trading on Web Shines Light on Murky Gem Dealers
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Six diamond dealers meet to bargain over $1.5 million of uncut stones. They’re not in Tel Aviv or Antwerp. They’re in the cloud.
In an online trading room that resembles an EBay Inc. auction, deals worth millions are sealed with a click. The button is marked ‘mazal,’ Hebrew for luck, and a holdover from the old ways. But the other practices that defined the trade for generations -- the handshakes, phonecalls, and furtive negotiations -- are being challenged.