I used to live in Antwerp, Belgium, the self-proclaimed diamond capital of the world. Lodewyk Van Bercken, some 15th century dude who was able to cut diamonds t

I used to live in Antwerp, Belgium, the self-proclaimed diamond capital of the world. Lodewyk Van Bercken, some 15th century dude who was able to cut diamonds to their stereotypical shape, used to live here. In 2023, the city seems to think that diamonds are cool, with a diamond museum, public transport stops named after diamonds, tax cuts and promotions. In reality, however, it's mostly a bunch of very shady looking shops, the occasionally robbery, embargoed Russian imports, and a fair bit of crime. It's entirely unclear why the city is so seemingly proud and obsessed with diamonds. Instead of realising that this trash is worthless, and this industry would be better off dead, they're spending money on tracing systems (an actual block chain implementation!), including microscopic laser etchings to identify diamonds.