Carats.io has announced that its diamond-backed CARAT coin is now being traded on the Hotbit.io digital asset exchange platform. This will benefit both diamond and jewellery traders who want to receive liquid digital assets in exchange for diamonds they sell, as well as investors who are looking for more stable currencies to invest in, they said.

The Hotbit platform was selected due to the crypto-exchange's strong presence in the Southeast Asia markets, which is a region in which Carats.io has focused attention for its CARAT coin. The CARAT coin has already recorded promising volumes of trade that are increasing from day to day, the Company reported.

The move is part of a multi-stage plan to provide members of the diamond and jewellery sectors with an inherently stable currency in which they can conduct their business, while at the same time supplying a non-volatile cryptocurrency alternative to other investors in the digital currency markets. Carats.io noted that the volatility of the CARAT coin, which is linked to the Diamond Financial Index (DFX), reflecting real time prices in the diamond market, is a low 5% per annum, compared to gold, which on average shows price volatility of about 20% per annum.

Eli Avidar, President of Carats.io said, "Given the across-the-board contractions seen in recent months in the highly volatile, non-backed digital currencies, there is today increased demand for strongly-backed digital currencies, which will support stable and developing economies,"

He added that the company and its diamond-backed currency were currently attracting significant attention in Southeast Asia, because diamonds are seen as an effective bulwark in the escalating trade war between the United States and China. “Asians are looking for stable currency alternatives that are not dependent upon the U.S. dollar," Avidar stated.

This new development comes a few months after Carats.io signed an agreement with IDEX International Diamond Exchange, the world's second largest diamond trading platform, according to which it would purchase up to $120 million worth of diamonds, to back up its diamond currency. As part of the tie-up, Carats.io will also provide IDEX with the know-how that will transform it into the first digital diamond trading platform fully backed by Blockchain technology.

Carats.io has reiterated that the purchase of any CARAT coins will be possible only on digital exchanges that meet the minimum financial requirements of KYC and AML protocols, or through the sale of diamonds from approved and recognized dealers who comply with all responsible financial standards.