In 2021, throughout the peak of $NFT-mania, an angel investor and macroeconomist named Tascha Che (aka Tascha Labs) introduced her plan to purchase a $5,000 diamond, create an $NFT of it, then smash it to items.
The stunt, supposed to show that, whereas bodily objects will be destroyed, digital footprints can ceaselessly retain worth, was extensively criticized by most exterior of cryptocurrency and $NFT circles.
However because the full collapse of the $NFT markets and liquidity falling to close all-time lows, how has the shattered diamond $NFT carried out?
Diamond background
Che got here up with the concept after posting a speculation to Twitter:
As soon as the tweet bought sufficient traction, she pursued the idea. In August of 2021 she bought a 1.3 carat diamond on-line, had it delivered, after which began to work on methods she may destroy it.
Should you make a $NFT of an actual diamond, and the diamond itself will get destroyed in a hearth tomorrow, you continue to have the identical asset.
As a result of the token nonetheless exists and is in restricted provide simply as earlier than. Nothing has modified.
What $NFT is doing to the idea of asset, few perceive.
— Tascha (@TaschaLabs) August 22, 2021
Her preliminary plan — to hit the diamond with a hammer — failed miserably, however she was ultimately in a position to go to a mechanic who used some sort of drill to obliterate it without spending a dime.
The following step was to mint the now-destroyed gem on an $NFT market so that individuals may bid on it.
This proved to achieve success.
In September of 2021 a consumer bought the $NFT for 5.5 $ETH, valued at +$17,000 on the time and over 3 times the value Che paid for the diamond.
Whereas Che immediately took to social media to proclaim that her speculation had been proved right, the fact was {that a} single sale couldn’t presumably show that every one digitized property may retain worth despite their destruction.
Diamond palms
After buying the $NFT, Ivan Zhang, a decentralized finance proponent and investor, held it till lastly promoting in October of 2025 — for an astounding 11 $ETH, or $43,000 on the time.
The destroyed diamond $NFT had as soon as once more almost tripled in worth, regardless of one carat diamond costs plummeting in worth almost 40% over that very same time interval.
So, was Che’s speculation right in spite of everything?
In no way.
Not worth retention, an web artifact
As admitted to by Zhang when posting in regards to the sale, diamond costs will proceed to go down as synthetics develop into simpler to make and demand from retail dries up.
However by some means the $NFT has continued to achieve worth.
If the $NFT was merely designed to retain the worth of a destroyed bodily good, one would anticipate to see an equal rise or decline in worth.
Nonetheless, an identical 1.3 carat diamond accessible for buy on the identical web site that Che bought hers from is now price between $3,500-$4,000, a decline of over 20%.
Over that point interval, the destroyed diamond’s worth has ballooned to $43,000, or a rise of 760%.
If something, Che’s experiment has confirmed positively that there’s little to no expectation of worth retention of actual world, bodily items which are digitized and made into an $NFT. One simply must be fortunate and hope that their concept goes viral.
