International diamond jewellery brand, Samer Halimeh New York, has become the world’s first diamond dealer and high-end level jeweller to start trading and retailing in Bitcoins.

The luxury diamond brand, which has a flagship in Knightsbridge, 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).

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The diamond brand says 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 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 comments: “We are the first diamond dealer and ‘Bond Street’ level luxury jeweller 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.”

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.