IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jcommo/v4y2025i4p25-d1772813.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Safe Haven Re-Evaluated: Technological Disruption and the Collapse of Natural and Synthetic (Manmade) Diamond Value

Author

Listed:
  • Ingo Wolf

    (Osmium-Institut zur Inverkehrbringung und Zertifizierung von Osmium GmbH, Kemmelallee 6, 82418 Murnau am Staffelsee, Germany)

  • Martin Užík

    (Berlin School of Economics and Law, Badensche Straße 52, 10825 Berlin, Germany)

Abstract

Technological advances in laboratory-grown diamonds (LGDs) have eroded the scarcity premium of natural diamonds, raising the question of whether diamonds still function as a safe haven. At the same time, crystalline osmium has become investable for the first time, as crystallization technology enables safe storage, certification, and global trading. Using monthly data from 2017–2025, we form diversified portfolios with and without diamonds and with and without osmium, as well as two-asset combinations with the MSCI World. The results show that diamonds no longer provide reliable stability, while osmium consistently contributes to reducing volatility. For portfolio investors, the key lesson is that traditional safe-haven roles can change; diamonds no longer offer robust protection, whereas crystalline osmium acts as a stabilizing component. These findings illustrate the contrasting effects of technological change: substitution and loss of value for diamonds, usability and stabilization for osmium.

Suggested Citation

  • Ingo Wolf & Martin Užík, 2025. "Safe Haven Re-Evaluated: Technological Disruption and the Collapse of Natural and Synthetic (Manmade) Diamond Value," Commodities, MDPI, vol. 4(4), pages 1-21, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jcommo:v:4:y:2025:i:4:p:25-:d:1772813
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2813-2432/4/4/25/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2813-2432/4/4/25/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jcommo:v:4:y:2025:i:4:p:25-:d:1772813. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.