Intro to the Carats Ecosystem, a DAO governed by Bitcarbon

Carats are a commodity token that are issued by Diamond Standard commodities held in the vaults of global custodians, and can be used for payments and as a trustless store of wealth.

Because Carats are directly issued by tangible commodities, and not issued by a sponsor or created by an algorithm, Carats are not legally a "virtual currency," and are exempt from many global money service business regulations. Because of this unique status, platforms that integrate Carats, and their users, are transferring tangible property titles, and not a virtual currency. No other payment tokens share these tangible property characteristics.

This makes Carats especially useful for global platforms like Web3 applications, social networks, MMO video games, online casinos, and retail remittance facilitators, that would otherwise need hundreds of money transmitter licenses. Carats are still subject to AML in certain quantities, based on location.

Unlike stablecoins, Carats (and the Diamond Standard commodities) are decentralized, and the underlying asset can provide a hedge against inflation and a return if Diamonds Standard commodities become more valuable.

The assembly of Diamond Standard commodities and their token issuance (not-fractionalized) are regulated by the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA). Carats and the Bitcarbon tokens which govern the Carats protocol and foundation are not regulated by the BMA.

Diamond Standard has unlocked natural diamonds as an investment asset, and as blockchain-native digital asset. The physical Diamond Standard commodities trade on a spot market, and are approved to settle futures, options and exchange traded funds. Their market price is reported on professional trading systems like Bloomberg and Refinitiv.

Bitcarbon are the governance token for the Carats DAO ecosystem. The Carats Smart Contract manages the conversion between physical Coins and Carats, and generate fees that are used by the Carats Foundation to pay for physical custody services at insured vaults operated by global custodians like Brinks, Loomis and Malca-Amit.

Both Carats and Bitcarbon will be listed on many global exchanges, and trade like other utility tokens.