Samer Halimeh New York, the international diamond jewellery brand, has become the world’s first diamond dealer and ‘Bond Street’ level jeweler to start trading and retailing in Bitcoins.
The luxury diamond brand is using Bitpay as its merchant services provider, and the portal will host the firm’s Bitcoin wallet and Bitcoin supply for trading.
For business-to-business activities Samer Halimeh New York will accept Bitcoins as payment for purchasing and trading diamonds. For business-to-consumer retailing, the brand will now accept Bitcoins as payment for jewellery and individual diamonds, and can provide clients with jewellery priced in Bitcoins (BTC).
Prices for Samer Halimeh New York diamond jewellery range from £5,000 (1.42 BTC) up to millions of Pound Sterling (284.87+ BTC) for bespoke pieces which use rare diamonds.
With flagship premises in Manhattan and London, the brand’s clients typically spend £50,000 (14.24 BTC) up to £300,000 (85.46 BTC) on jewellery pieces, with VIP clients spending £1.5 million plus (427.31 BTC+) on special jewellery items or diamonds. Over 90% of customers order bespoke jewellery or tailor existing jewellery; with serious diamond collectors or traders also purchasing 1 t0 10 carat loose diamond stones for investment or to assemble jewellery items.
Samer Halimeh NY reveals that there has been a sea change in the source of demand for rare and investment-quality diamonds and gems.
Over the last two years, the biggest demand for diamonds and diamond jewellery has originated from the oil and gas driven economies of the Middle East – especially Saudi Arabia and Qatar – and also Russia and the Central Asia/CIS states.
However, since the start of 2017, political uncertainty in the Middle East has led to Gulf customers being overtaken in diamond trading and purchases by American buyers (from Manhattan, Texas and California/LA) and also Asian investors and consumers from Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Japan.
The diamond brand highlights that whilst historically the majority of both Gulf and Asian clients have tended to hold U.S. Dollars and to trade and purchase diamonds in U.S. Dollars, over the last 18 months both the Middle East and Asian investors have been purchasing and holding large amounts of Bitcoin currency.
In the last eight months, this has led to an increasing number of clients – predominantly from Asia and the Middle East – asking if they can purchase diamonds in Bitcoins – especially for VIP jewellery costing seven figures upwards. This is because a rising number now want to divest some of their Bitcoin holdings in exchange for hard/real investment assets such as diamonds, gold, art and fine wine.
Samer Halimeh, Chief Executive of Samer Halimeh NY says:
“We are the first diamond dealer and ‘Bond Street’ level luxury jeweler to start accepting and trading using Bitcoins. This is because we have seen rising enquiries for this digital currency from clients, suppliers and trading partners. Our high-net-worth clients and contacts are currently holding large quantities of Bitcoins within their investment portfolios and have decided to exchange some of their stock for hard assets such as diamonds, artwork, gold and fine wine.”
Samer Halimeh continues:
“Because trading and retailing via Bitcoins can be done from anywhere in the world, it is especially beneficial for our suppliers in Africa and our clients from developing countries like China, Brazil, South Africa, Nigeria, India, and Uzbekistan. We also believe that in the future the currency will revolutionise the luxury goods marketplace and the use of this digital currency will make trading and purchases for our clients and contacts easier, cheaper and much faster.”
Started in 2009, Bitcoin is a digital currency which can be transferred via the internet allowing direct trades or purchases between a person and a company, without the need to go via a bank or clearing house. Currency exchanges around the world allow for Bitcoins to be exchanged for Dollars, Euros, Pound Sterling and other currencies, and they are then stored in a person/company’s Bitcoin digital wallet, kept on a computer or mobile device.
The Bitcoin system allows money to be transferred as quickly and easily as an email with state-of-the-art security provided by ‘Miners’ (security hubs) which verify transactions authorised by private user-unique mathematical key-code authorisations recorded on a Blockchain hub which lists all validated transactions.
Using the Bitcoin network is free, transfer fees for currency exchanges/transfers are much lower than the banking sector, and unlike card/banking payments there are no arbitrary limits on currency transfer amounts. BitBay, the system’s global payment service provider was launched in 2011 and by 2014 had over 12,000 registered merchants.
There are now over 5.8 million users of the Bitcoin currency worldwide and over 100,000 merchants accept Bitcoins as payment and since 2014 several online and discount jewelers have started to accept Bitcoins, but Samer Halimeh New York is the first ‘Bond Street’ level luxury jeweler to start accepting and trading via the currency.
Samer Halimeh New York provides clients with finished jewellery; bespoke pieces created from loose diamonds that can take up to four to six weeks to make; refashioned heirloom pieces in new settings; and rare diamonds purchased by discerning collectors.
Samer Halimeh New York has its global headquarters in Manhattan with a global flagship store in Central London, with seasonal/pop-up stores operating in Continental Europe (France and Italy), the Middle East (Saudi Arabia and UAE) and Asia (Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong). Alongside the retail arm, the business also has a diamond wholesaling and manufacturing division based in New York.
The diamond brand specialises in coloured and rare diamonds ranging from D Flawless to GH VS stones. The brand deals exclusively in GIA (Gemological Institute of America) Certified Diamonds all sourced directly from local mines in South Africa, with pieces cut and handcrafted in the company’s workshop/factory in New York, USA.
The Samer Halimeh New York global flagship boutique is located at 161 Knightsbridge in London SW1X 7PA. Open Mon to Sat 11.30am to 9 pm, Sun 12 midday to 6 pm. For further information contact the store – Tel 020 3892 7692 or visit: www.samerhalimeh.com
