Author: SMX (Security Matters) Public Limited

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / January 22, 2026 / SMX (NASDAQ:SMX) has entered 2026 fully financed through the end of first quarter 2027, giving the Company the flexibility to stay focused on execution, expanding its platform, and continuing to develop its Plastic Cycle Token as a practical foundation for the circular economy. The Company is investing in the rollout of its molecular marking and material verification technologies, strengthening its digital platform, and driving real-world adoption across global supply chains where transparency, proof, and regulatory alignment are no longer optional.

On Jan 8, SMX announced its convertible notes have been fully converted in accordance with their terms. This full conversion of the notes materially reduces SMX’s long-term liabilities, eliminates potential equity overhang associated with convertible instruments and strengthens the Company’s financial position as it advances project development across its circular-materials platform.

As governments tighten requirements around origination, carbon, recycling, and materials disclosure, companies are being asked to prove what their data represents, not just report it. SMX addresses this challenge by embedding invisible molecular identifiers directly into materials, creating a durable record that travels with a product from manufacturing through reuse, recycling, and end-of-life.

That physical-to-digital connection is the foundation of SMX’s Plastic Cycle Token strategy. The token framework is designed to capture verified material lifecycle events and convert them into reliable, auditable data. This allows sustainability outcomes to be measured based on evidence rather than estimates, giving stakeholders a clearer way to demonstrate compliance, manage risk, and create value from circular activity.

In 2025, SMX made steady progress toward establishing verification as core infrastructure. The Company expanded internationally through partnerships and pilot programs, validating its technology across different regions, industries, and materials. These efforts showed that molecular-level identity can survive industrial processing and still deliver accurate tracking without disrupting existing operations.

SMX also extended its platform beyond plastics, reinforcing its evolution into a multi-material verification company with applications across manufacturing, recycling, and regulated supply chains. This broader scope supports the Company’s long-term goal of creating a unified verification layer that works for regulators, enterprises, and sustainability-focused markets alike.

With funding secured and key partnerships in place, SMX enters 2026 focused on disciplined growth, refining its platform, and advancing its verification and tokenization strategy. As sustainability expectations shift from ambition to accountability, the Company believes demand for trusted, verifiable material data will continue to grow, placing SMX at the center of that transition.

Contact: Jeremy Murphy/ jeremy@360bespoke.com

SOURCE: SMX (Security Matters) Public Limited

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / January 22, 2026 / SMX’s (NASDAQ:SMX) announcement around Kraken explained what the move adds to the SMX platform. It’s just as important to understand why it fits where it does, and why the timing matters.

Aligning its treasury with Kraken was never intended to be a standalone milestone. It was designed as a structural layer, added at a point where the platform required greater execution strength, interoperability, and resilience to support the next phase of adoption.

After all, infrastructure doesn’t scale because it’s visible. It scales because it’s coherent. For SMX and the markets it serves, that’s a critical element.

SMX Adds Another Critical Layer of Infrastructure

SMX is built to address one of the most persistent challenges in modern commerce: verifying that physical materials are exactly what they claim to be across complex and regulated supply chains. Molecular markers establish identity at the material level. Digital systems preserve that identity through time. But verification only becomes actionable when it can move securely through real operating environments.

That’s where Kraken fits.

Kraken strengthens the execution layer that sits between material identity and real-world deployment. It supports secure processing, permissions, and system integrity in environments where cybersecurity, uptime, and auditability are non-negotiable. As traceability systems transition from pilots into regulated, production-scale use, that layer becomes essential. That’s where the cohesion starts to matter.

SMX Is Sequencing Its Infrastructure

Rather than building outward and addressing robustness later, SMX has followed a deliberate sequence. Verification was first established at the molecular level. Digital identity followed. Secure execution was added once the platform reached the point where scale and institutional integration demanded it.

That sequence reduces future friction instead of reacting to it.

Kraken also expands how the platform can be deployed. It enables cleaner integration into enterprise and institutional environments without requiring counterparties to reengineer their own security frameworks. That flexibility lowers adoption barriers and supports long-term integration, particularly in industries where infrastructure decisions are made with durability in mind.

This development aligns with SMX’s broader objective of serving as a trust backbone for industries where verification is no longer optional. Circular materials, regulated manufacturing, critical components, and sustainability enforcement all depend on systems that can withstand scrutiny under real-world conditions.

Kraken contributes directly to that resilience. And it’s a reason for investors and stakeholders to pay attention.

Infrastructure Is a Boring Headline, But a Massive Value Driver

Infrastructure rarely draws attention once it’s working correctly. Its value is instead measured in what it prevents rather than what it advertises. By reinforcing execution and reducing system vulnerabilities, Kraken helps ensure that verification remains reliable as complexity, scale, and oversight increase.

SMX continues to build its platform with readiness as the priority. Verification requirements are expanding. Enforcement is increasing. Proof is becoming a prerequisite for participation in global markets.

The Kraken-aligned treasury doesn’t change that direction. It ensures the SMX platform is prepared for it. That’s how enduring infrastructure is built. It’s also how SMX future-proofs its clients as markets move from trust-based systems to proof-based ones.

About SMX

As global businesses face new and complex challenges relating to carbon neutrality and meeting new governmental and regional regulations and standards, SMX is able to offer players along the value chain access to its marking, tracking, measuring and digital platform technology to transition more successfully to a low-carbon economy.

Forward-Looking Statements

The information in this press release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “contemplate,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “intends,” “may,” “will,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “would” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements in this press release may include, for example: matters relating to the Company’s fight against abusive and possibly illegal trading tactics against the Company’s stock; successful launch and implementation of SMX’s joint projects with manufacturers and other supply chain participants of steel, rubber and other materials; changes in SMX’s strategy, future operations, financial position, estimated revenues and losses, projected costs, prospects and plans; SMX’s ability to develop and launch new products and services, including its planned Plastic Cycle Token; SMX’s ability to successfully and efficiently integrate future expansion plans and opportunities; SMX’s ability to grow its business in a cost-effective manner; SMX’s product development timeline and estimated research and development costs; the implementation, market acceptance and success of SMX’s business model; developments and projections relating to SMX’s competitors and industry; and SMX’s approach and goals with respect to technology. These forward-looking statements are based on information available as of the date of this press release, and current expectations, forecasts and assumptions, and involve a number of judgments, risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing views as of any subsequent date, and no obligation is undertaken to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they were made, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. As a result of a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties, actual results or performance may be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Some factors that could cause actual results to differ include: the ability to maintain the listing of the Company’s shares on Nasdaq; changes in applicable laws or regulations; any lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on SMX’s business; the ability to implement business plans, forecasts, and other expectations, and identify and realize additional opportunities; the risk of downturns and the possibility of rapid change in the highly competitive industry in which SMX operates; the risk that SMX and its current and future collaborators are unable to successfully develop and commercialize SMX’s products or services, or experience significant delays in doing so; the risk that the Company may never achieve or sustain profitability; the risk that the Company will need to raise additional capital to execute its business plan, which may not be available on acceptable terms or at all; the risk that the Company experiences difficulties in managing its growth and expanding operations; the risk that third-party suppliers and manufacturers are not able to fully and timely meet their obligations; the risk that SMX is unable to secure or protect its intellectual property; the possibility that SMX may be adversely affected by other economic, business, and/or competitive factors; and other risks and uncertainties described in SMX’s filings from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

For further information contact:

SMX GENERAL ENQUIRIES

Follow us through our social channels:

Email: info@securitymattersltd.com

Instagram: @smx.tech

X: @secmattersltd

Press Contact: Jeremy Murphy/ jeremy@360bespoke.com

SOURCE: SMX (Security Matters) Public Limited

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK / ACCESS Newswire / January 21, 2026 / SMX PLC (NASDAQ:SMX; SMXWW) is positioning its physical-to-digital traceability platform as a response to some of the most persistent pressures facing fashion and luxury today-pressures underscored in The State of Fashion 2025. Excess inventory, chronic overproduction, inefficient supply chains, and rising mandates to include and verify recycled content are no longer isolated problems. Together, they reveal a deeper structural weakness.

At its core, the industry is struggling with continuity.

Fashion is built from materials that carry essential information long before a garment is finished-where fibers originated, how they were processed, what was added, blended, or reclaimed along the way. Yet as those materials move through global production networks, that information steadily detaches. Not because brands ignore it, but because legacy systems were never built to preserve identity across today’s scale, speed, and complexity.

Once materials lose their history, every downstream decision becomes harder.

Inventory Breakdown Is a Symptom, Not the Disease

The most obvious consequence appears in inventory.

Brands sit on surplus stock while simultaneously failing to meet demand in the right styles, sizes, or markets. Warehouses overflow, discounting accelerates, and products that should retain value instead become financial and reputational burdens.

This imbalance is often blamed on forecasting errors. But forecasting alone doesn’t explain why brands struggle to act decisively once inventory exists. The real issue is clarity. When materials and finished goods lose definitional precision as they move through supply chains, inventory stops being actionable.

Brands may know how much they have-but not always what they have, where it should go, or how it can be redeployed in ways that remain compliant, profitable, and aligned with sustainability commitments.

Without durable identity, inventory becomes indistinct. And indistinct inventory is managed defensively rather than strategically.

Why Paper Trails Fail Long Before Products Do

Most traceability and compliance frameworks still depend on documentation that ages poorly.

Labels are removed. Certificates expire. Records are scattered across systems that don’t travel with the product itself. The attributes that matter most-recycled content, sourcing integrity, regulatory eligibility-are often separated from the materials they describe.

For premium and luxury brands, this creates a fundamental mismatch. Products are designed for longevity, resale, and reuse. Proof is not. As time passes, uncertainty grows, even around legitimate goods.

That uncertainty drives blunt decision-making. Instead of precision redistribution or targeted reuse, brands default to clearance and write-downs to reduce exposure. Value erodes. Sustainability goals weaken. Brand equity takes collateral damage.

Embedding Memory Where It Can’t Be Lost

Solving overproduction and recycled-content verification challenges requires more than better planning tools. It requires continuity at the material level.

By embedding identity directly into raw materials, SMX enables information to persist through manufacturing, logistics, resale, and recycling. Identity no longer has to be reconstructed after the fact. It is carried forward automatically, inseparable from the material itself.

When that continuity exists, inventory behaves differently. Brands can distinguish between products that meet regulatory thresholds and those that don’t. They can confidently route goods into resale, redistribution, or recycling streams without guesswork. Compliance shifts from assumption to proof.

In an industry facing mounting regulation, margin pressure, and growing scrutiny around sustainability claims, remembering what was made-and what it truly contains-is becoming foundational.

Memory, once an afterthought, is now a prerequisite for control.

Contact: Jeremy Murphy / jeremy@360bespoke.com

SOURCE: SMX (Security Matters) Public Limited

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK / ACCESS Newswire / January 21, 2026 / For decades, luxury operated on an unspoken agreement: heritage implied authenticity, and reputation stood in for proof. A label, a logo, a legacy-these were enough to signal quality, origin, and value. That system held when supply chains were shorter, ownership was linear, and products rarely lived beyond their first transaction.

That world no longer exists.

Today’s fashion and luxury ecosystem is global, fragmented, and circular. Materials move across borders, change hands multiple times, and re-enter the market through resale, reuse, and recycling. In that environment, trust that cannot be verified becomes fragile. According to findings highlighted in The State of Fashion 2025, excess inventory, stock-outs, and supply-chain volatility are no longer operational anomalies-they are symptoms of a system that lacks durable visibility.

This is the problem SMX PLC is addressing by shifting luxury brands away from reputation-based confidence and toward material-level certainty.

When Trust Becomes a Risk Factor

In fashion, trust is now tested constantly-and by parties who were never part of the original transaction.

Regulators require auditable proof of sourcing and composition. Insurers demand documentation that holds up over time. Resale platforms must authenticate goods long after they’ve left the brand’s control. Each of these checkpoints exposes the same weakness: claims that rely on records, certificates, or brand assurances often detach from the product itself.

The State of Fashion 2025 underscores how inventory imbalances and discounting pressure stem from this opacity. When brands cannot precisely identify what materials they have, where products came from, or how they can be reused or redeployed, decision-making slows and risk compounds.

What once functioned as brand equity begins to behave like exposure.

Why Trust Doesn’t Travel Anymore

Reputation does not move cleanly across borders, platforms, or ownership changes.

Luxury goods now circulate through resale marketplaces, cross-border commerce, and secondary ownership cycles where logos matter less than proof. Over time, documentation fragments. Certifications expire. Records live in databases while products move independently.

Even authentic items can lose value simply because verification is difficult. Each transaction requires trust to be rebuilt from scratch, introducing friction, delay, and doubt. Without a persistent link between a product and its history, brands lose control over how credibility is carried forward.

In a market built on longevity, that disconnect is costly.

Why Denim Reveals the Cracks

Seen through this lens, SMX’s planned expansion into denim and recycled denim in early 2026 is not a category experiment-it’s a stress test.

Denim operates at enormous scale, cutting across price points, geographies, and demographics while still anchoring premium brand identity. Billions of units move annually through global supply chains. Minor inefficiencies multiply quickly. Traceability gaps widen fast.

At the same time, pressure to increase recycled content is rising sharply. Yet recycled denim often loses definitional clarity once fibers are blended, processed, or traded. By the time fabric reaches finished garments, origin and composition frequently rely on estimates rather than verifiable data.

By extending cotton-based material identity into denim, SMX introduces persistence where the category typically loses it. Embedded identity allows denim-virgin or recycled-to carry verifiable information about origin, composition, and transformation across its entire lifecycle, even through complex manufacturing and reuse pathways.

The implications go beyond authentication. Offcuts, unsold inventory, and end-of-life garments can be identified accurately and redeployed intentionally. Materials that once became opaque liabilities gain the ability to re-enter supply chains as auditable inputs. Waste becomes traceable. Inventory becomes classifiable. Circularity becomes measurable.

In a category defined by volume, durability, and cultural relevance, denim exposes whether proof can survive scale.

Making Verification Inherent, Not Interpretive

Addressing excess inventory and volatile demand requires more than better forecasting. It requires evidence that travels with the product itself.

By embedding identity directly into materials, SMX makes verification intrinsic rather than dependent on external records or explanations. Products carry their own proof through manufacturing, distribution, resale, and recycling. Trust shifts from assumption to confirmation.

When identity is anchored at the material level, verification can occur anywhere the product appears-regardless of who owns it or how much time has passed. That continuity reduces friction across resale, insurance, and regulatory environments.

For luxury brands navigating extended product lifecycles and tightening compliance standards, this represents a structural shift. Trust stops being something that erodes over distance and time. It becomes durable, transferable, and defensible.

In an industry where excess stock and supply-chain misalignment have revealed the limits of legacy trust, evidence is no longer optional. It is the new foundation of value.

Contact: Jeremy Murphy/ jeremy@360bespoke.com

SOURCE: SMX (Security Matters) Public Limited

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK / ACCESS Newswire / January 21, 2026 / Gold has long been treated as a finished truth. Whether resting in a vault, set into fine jewelry, or traded as a financial asset, it appears final-unchanging, unquestioned. What’s rarely visible is the complicated path that brought it there. Before gold becomes an object of beauty or security, it passes through extraction sites, processing facilities, international borders, and multiple intermediaries, often leaving behind little more than fragmented records.

Historically, that lack of visibility was part of gold’s nature. Once melted and reshaped, its past effectively disappeared. Origin stories became symbolic rather than verifiable, and the metal’s value was detached from the conditions under which it was produced.

That paradigm is beginning to change.

SMX, a company known for enabling traceability across global supply chains, is now exploring how its core technology could be applied to precious metals, including gold and silver. The premise is simple but far-reaching: materials should be able to carry verifiable proof of their own history without altering their physical form or performance.

The approach relies on molecular-level markers paired with a digital tracking system. These markers are invisible, microscopic, and engineered to endure extreme conditions-from high heat to repeated handling and long-term storage. Unlike external tags or labels, they cannot be removed or tampered with. Instead, they become an intrinsic part of the material itself.

Introduced at the point of extraction, gold could retain a persistent identity throughout its entire lifecycle. Each stage-refining, transport, trading, storage, resale, and recycling-could be logged and authenticated. Rather than arriving as an isolated object, the metal would arrive with a documented lineage.

The implications reach far beyond recordkeeping.

For consumers, sourcing claims have become common, but verification remains inconsistent. Molecular traceability would allow jewelers to demonstrate-not just assert-that their gold avoided conflict zones, illegal mining operations, or environmentally damaging practices. Provenance would shift from narrative to evidence.

Security and authentication are equally important. Counterfeit bullion and altered coins remain a concern as gold continues to attract individual and institutional investors. Embedding identity at the material level introduces a robust safeguard, making fraudulent metals significantly harder to pass undetected.

Financial markets also stand to gain. As precious metals become more tightly integrated with digital trading platforms and tokenized assets, verifiable origin and chain-of-custody data become essential. A tracked gold asset is not only valuable-it is transparent, auditable, and aligned with modern compliance standards.

Sustainability adds another layer. While metals can be recycled indefinitely, tracking that reuse has historically been imprecise. Persistent material identity enables accurate measurement of recycling rates, losses, and inefficiencies, offering governments and industries a clearer picture of how circular their precious-metal systems truly are.

None of this changes how gold looks, feels, or functions. It doesn’t introduce surveillance or visibility where it doesn’t belong. The technology operates quietly, doing exactly what it’s designed to do: replacing assumptions with verifiable information.

Gold has always been valued for its endurance. With technologies like those SMX is developing, it may also become defined by its accountability.

Contact: Jeremy Murphy/ eremy@360bespoke.com

SOURCE: SMX (Security Matters) Public Limited

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / January 20, 2026 / At first glance, the announcement that SMX (NASDAQ:SMX) has opened a corporate account with Kraken may appear to be a routine treasury disclosure. Read quickly, it can sound like a simple operational update, the kind that blends into the background of public-company communications. That reaction is understandable, but it overlooks the broader context in which this decision was made.

What matters here is not the account itself, but the intent behind it and the timing of the move. This is not about market timing, price exposure, or signaling enthusiasm for digital assets. It reflects a deliberate decision to establish infrastructure early, before it becomes necessary under regulatory or commercial pressure. With SMX built around verification and accountability, that sequencing is a strategic choice, not an administrative one. Here’s why.

SMX operates at the meeting point of physical materials and digital verification. Verifying materials at the molecular level creates proof, but proof alone does not create an operating system. Once verified outcomes exist, they must be handled within frameworks that meet enterprise, financial, and regulatory expectations. This announcement about Kraken signals that SMX is preparing for that transition. More importantly, from demonstrating capability to supporting scale.

1. From Verification to Institutional Infrastructure

Those following SMX know that it has long emphasized that verification must precede monetization. Its technology does precisely that by authenticating physical substances, creating digital twins, and tracking materials across complex supply chains. That work establishes factual certainty. But factual certainty alone does not ensure that verified activity can be integrated into real economic systems.

For that to happen, verified outcomes must be supported by infrastructure capable of reconciliation, auditability, and governance. Treasury strategy becomes relevant precisely at this stage, not as a financial optimization exercise, but as a structural enabler. Infrastructure decisions determine whether verified data remains informational or becomes operational.

Opening an institutional account with Kraken fits squarely into this progression. This is no retail level addition. Corporate and institutional accounts with Kraken are subject to enhanced due diligence, governance review, and compliance standards that differ materially from retail access. In other words, this is not a casual or self-directed relationship. It reflects a treasury-level engagement designed to support balance sheet assets under formal oversight rather than individual or transactional use.

By framing this engagement as infrastructure-oriented rather than transactional, SMX reinforces that the objective is preparedness, not activity. The company is establishing controlled access to mature digital infrastructure so future systems, when activated, can operate within accepted institutional boundaries.

2. Making the Plastic Cycle Token Operationally Credible

This infrastructure readiness becomes especially relevant when viewed alongside SMX’s long-term development of the Plastic Cycle Token (PCT). PCT has consistently been positioned as a virtual credit linked to verified recycled plastic activity, not as a general-purpose digital currency. Its purpose is to represent measured outcomes grounded in authenticated material flows rather than estimates or offset-based assumptions.

Until now, that positioning relied primarily on the strength of SMX’s verification technology. While necessary, verification alone does not address how such a system would function in practice. Without visible preparation around custody, accounting, and settlement, skepticism was inevitable, regardless of technical merit.

By aligning treasury and accounting infrastructure under board authorization, SMX begins to close that gap. SMX is demonstrating that its PCT is being designed to function within real financial controls, with governance, transparency, and auditability addressed before commercialization. This step does not launch PCT or imply near-term monetization. Instead, it removes a structural objection by showing that the operational foundation is being built deliberately and in the correct sequence.

3. Positioning Ahead of Regulation and Market Demand

The broader regulatory and market environment makes this approach particularly relevant. Policymakers and industry bodies are increasingly focused on digital product passports, lifecycle accountability, and verifiable circular economy metrics. While implementation details continue to evolve, the direction of travel is clear.

Companies that wait for mandates often find themselves constrained by rushed decisions and fragmented systems. SMX’s approach reflects a preference for readiness over reaction, using the current window to prepare infrastructure while standards are still forming. Treasury readiness becomes a way to absorb future requirements rather than scramble to meet them.

This also explains why the significance of this announcement is unlikely to show up immediately in revenue or share price movement. Infrastructure decisions of this kind are designed to reduce execution risk over time, not to create short-term optics. Ultimately, this announcement does not redefine what SMX does. It reinforces how the company thinks, aligning verification, governance, and treasury infrastructure so SMX can move from proof to performance without friction. The best part, SMX is doing this at a time when market and regulatory demand are converging.

About SMX

As global businesses face new and complex challenges relating to carbon neutrality and meeting new governmental and regional regulations and standards, SMX is able to offer players along the value chain access to its marking, tracking, measuring and digital platform technology to transition more successfully to a low-carbon economy.

Forward-Looking Statements

The information in this press release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “contemplate,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “intends,” “may,” “will,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “would” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements in this press release may include, for example: matters relating to the Company’s fight against abusive and possibly illegal trading tactics against the Company’s stock; successful launch and implementation of SMX’s joint projects with manufacturers and other supply chain participants of steel, rubber and other materials; changes in SMX’s strategy, future operations, financial position, estimated revenues and losses, projected costs, prospects and plans; SMX’s ability to develop and launch new products and services, including its planned Plastic Cycle Token; SMX’s ability to successfully and efficiently integrate future expansion plans and opportunities; SMX’s ability to grow its business in a cost-effective manner; SMX’s product development timeline and estimated research and development costs; the implementation, market acceptance and success of SMX’s business model; developments and projections relating to SMX’s competitors and industry; and SMX’s approach and goals with respect to technology. These forward-looking statements are based on information available as of the date of this press release, and current expectations, forecasts and assumptions, and involve a number of judgments, risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing views as of any subsequent date, and no obligation is undertaken to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they were made, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. As a result of a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties, actual results or performance may be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Some factors that could cause actual results to differ include: the ability to maintain the listing of the Company’s shares on Nasdaq; changes in applicable laws or regulations; any lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on SMX’s business; the ability to implement business plans, forecasts, and other expectations, and identify and realize additional opportunities; the risk of downturns and the possibility of rapid change in the highly competitive industry in which SMX operates; the risk that SMX and its current and future collaborators are unable to successfully develop and commercialize SMX’s products or services, or experience significant delays in doing so; the risk that the Company may never achieve or sustain profitability; the risk that the Company will need to raise additional capital to execute its business plan, which may not be available on acceptable terms or at all; the risk that the Company experiences difficulties in managing its growth and expanding operations; the risk that third-party suppliers and manufacturers are not able to fully and timely meet their obligations; the risk that SMX is unable to secure or protect its intellectual property; the possibility that SMX may be adversely affected by other economic, business, and/or competitive factors; and other risks and uncertainties described in SMX’s filings from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

For further information contact:

SMX GENERAL ENQUIRIES

Follow us through our social channels:

Email: info@securitymattersltd.com
Instagram: @smx.tech
X: @secmattersltd

or jeremy@360bespoke.com

SOURCE: SMX (Security Matters) Public Limited

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK / ACCESS Newswire / January 16, 2026 / For much of modern industrial history, supply chains functioned on assumption. Materials were accepted as genuine because suppliers said they were. Certifications were trusted because systems relied on good faith. Sustainability metrics were taken seriously because companies claimed responsible intent. That framework held together only because it was rarely tested. Once regulators, investors, and consumers began asking for evidence rather than explanation, its limits became impossible to ignore.

The disconnect between what companies believe is happening inside their supply chains and what can actually be proven has widened dramatically. Disclosure rules are tightening. Investors are scrutinizing ESG claims. Consumers are demanding transparency that extends beyond marketing language. The paper-based systems that once governed global trade were never built to survive this level of examination. As a result, tolerance has given way to verification.

This shift is not rooted in accusation. It is rooted in evolution. Supply chains are larger, faster, and more interconnected than ever before. Systems designed around trust are now expected to withstand inspection at a forensic level. That requires something fundamentally different: proof that stays with the material itself. SMX delivers that capability by embedding verification directly into physical goods.

When Materials Gain the Ability to Identify Themselves

Historically, materials have been silent. Once they entered the supply chain, they relied on external records to define what they were and where they came from. SMX (NASDAQ:SMX) changes that dynamic. With molecular identity embedded at the source, materials can authenticate themselves.

A plastic pellet can confirm whether it is recycled or virgin. Fibers can verify sourcing and composition. Rubber, textiles, and other inputs can carry their own proof long before they are blended, processed, or redistributed. These functions are not experimental. They are already operating at commercial scale.

What differentiates SMX is not simply digital tracking. It is how the system is anchored. The molecular marker is embedded directly into the material at the start of its lifecycle. That identity persists through manufacturing, transport, use, and recycling. When scanned, it unlocks a secure digital record tied permanently to the material itself.

This reverses the burden of verification. Instead of depending on every participant in a complex chain to document data perfectly, the material becomes the source of truth. And that shift is arriving precisely when industries can no longer afford ambiguity.

A Shared Problem Across Every Sector

The demand for material-level proof is emerging everywhere at once. Automakers must trace metals and rare earths used in batteries. Packaging companies must verify recycled content. Fashion brands face enforcement around ethical sourcing and sustainability claims. Governments require confirmation that imported materials meet environmental and safety thresholds.

SMX does not solve these challenges one industry at a time. It addresses the common weakness underneath them all: the inability to prove material truth once assets begin moving through global systems.

Pressure Is No Longer Theoretical

Regulatory momentum is accelerating. European frameworks now require physical substantiation of sustainability claims. Global plastics policy is shifting toward mandatory verification of recycled content. Battery materials are under geopolitical and compliance scrutiny. Carbon markets are tightening rules around unverifiable credits.

Markets are reacting accordingly. Institutional capital is flowing toward companies that can substantiate claims with evidence. Consumers reward transparency. Regulators penalize unverifiable disclosures. The cost of failure is rising quickly-misclassified materials trigger fines, audits stall operations, and reputational damage compounds.

In that environment, verification is no longer a feature. It is infrastructure.

SMX’s platform enables materials-whether plastic, metal, textile, rubber, or industrial inputs-to carry embedded identity at the molecular level. That creates a universal verification layer capable of scaling across borders, industries, and regulatory regimes.

Why SMX Is Central to the Shift

SMX is not adding another tool to sustainability workflows. It is delivering the foundational layer that accountability now requires. By linking physical materials directly to verifiable data, the platform provides clarity where assumption once prevailed.

That is why adoption interest is growing across industries and regions. Brands, governments, and institutional partners are recognizing that supply chains without material intelligence cannot meet modern expectations. Supply chains built on molecular identity can.

The result is more than compliance. It is operational confidence, reduced disruption, and measurable competitive advantage.

The era of material accountability is no longer approaching-it has arrived. SMX anticipated it, built for it, and is now enabling it at scale. The world is catching up.

Contact: Jeremy Murphy/ jeremy@360bespoke.com

SOURCE: SMX (Security Matters) Public Limited

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / January 16, 2026 / The global gold market functions on faith. Vault operators rely on refiners. Refiners rely on upstream suppliers. Banks rely on custody chains. Investors rely on all of it holding together-purity, legality, and origin assumed to be unquestionable. That confidence appears solid, but it is far thinner than most participants admit. And it would take only a single failure to reveal just how fragile it really is.

The discovery of a counterfeit bar inside a major vault or global bank would not cause a mild correction. It would detonate. Trading would seize, not slow. Prices would not recalibrate- they would lurch violently as institutions scrambled to determine which holdings could be authenticated and which could not.

This risk is not hypothetical. The gold industry has already encountered smaller warnings: bars found with tungsten cores, forged refinery marks, or serial numbers that didn’t align. Those incidents were absorbed only because they were isolated, detected early, and quietly contained. The next discovery will be neither small nor quiet. Volumes are too large. Supply chains are too complex. The trust architecture is too exposed. A counterfeit uncovered in a major Western vault would force every existing verification method into question at once.

That vulnerability exists because traditional bullion verification has a fatal flaw. Once gold is melted, its identity disappears. Once recast, its history starts over. That weakness runs through the entire global gold system-and it is precisely the weakness SMX is addressing.

Panic Begins With Uncertainty, Not Crime

When a fake bar is identified inside a major vault, outrage will not be the first reaction. Doubt will be. If one bar slipped through, how many others might have? If one custody chain failed, how many others were never truly tested? If one refiner’s stamp was falsified, how many more could be?

Markets don’t unravel when a problem is visible. They unravel when the scale of the problem can no longer be measured.

That is when containment fails. Vaults suspend withdrawals to audit holdings. Banks pause bullion-backed lending. Sovereign funds demand emergency verification of reserves. Exchanges delay settlements to avoid contaminated metal. The paralysis spreads globally because no one wants to move gold they cannot prove. Liquidity vanishes-not because the gold is missing, but because certainty is.

This is where SMX’s (NASDAQ:SMX) molecular identity technology fundamentally changes the equation. By embedding a permanent molecular signature directly into the metal, identity survives melting, recasting, and reuse. History does not reset. Proof remains intact. Institutions can authenticate instantly instead of reopening decades of records and audits. Doubt never gets the chance to become panic.

From Market Breakdown to Market Reordering

If confidence fractures, the market will not collapse evenly. It will split.

On one side will be gold with verifiable, testable identity. On the other will be gold that still depends on trust. Verified bullion will become the preferred asset-even within gold’s traditional role as a safe haven. Banks, exchanges, and sovereigns will transact freely with it. Unverified bullion will be treated as impaired inventory. Discounts will deepen. Liquidity will thin. Regulatory scrutiny will intensify. Global trade routes for gold will be redrawn almost overnight.

This shift is already underway. Verification-first frameworks are emerging. Advanced refiners are adopting molecular identity to eliminate risk exposure. Vaults are modernizing authentication systems in anticipation of future audits. Early adopters are positioning themselves on the right side of an inevitable reset-where proof replaces assumption.

Verification is no longer an optional enhancement. It is rapidly becoming a baseline requirement. Institutions that move early retain pricing power, liquidity, and regulatory confidence. Those that hesitate risk holding gold the market no longer treats as equal.

One Bar Is All It Takes

Gold’s value rests on confidence-but confidence without verification is a vulnerability. A single compromised bar is enough to expose the weakness of a system still anchored in paperwork and precedent rather than physical truth. The next counterfeit discovery will not be contained. It will be catalytic.

SMX provides the safeguard the market has lacked. It gives gold memory. It gives institutions certainty. It converts chaos into clarity. And when the next counterfeit finally surfaces-as it inevitably will-the market will not spiral. It will pivot toward proof.

That transition is unavoidable. In the next era, gold’s value will not be defined by scarcity alone. It will be defined by identity. And the companies that made that possible will not be forgotten. In this space, there is no ambiguity: SMX stands alone.

Contact: Jeremy Murphy/ jeremy@360bespoke.com

SOURCE: SMX (Security Matters) Public Limited

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / January 16, 2026 / Security Matters plc (NASDAQ:SMX), a global leader in molecular-marker technology and blockchain-backed digital product passports, today announced that it has opened a corporate account with Kraken as part of a treasury strategy authorized by the Company’s Board of Directors.

The opening of the account represents a structured operational step in support of SMX’s evolving treasury framework, which includes the evaluation and management of digital assets on the Company’s balance sheet. This initiative reflects the Board’s long-term view regarding the role of secure digital infrastructure in supporting verified, real-world asset systems.

SMX’s treasury strategy is designed to align capital management with the Company’s core technology platform, which focuses on material-level traceability, authentication, and lifecycle verification. The establishment of institutional-grade digital asset access is intended to support future initiatives that connect verified physical materials to digital value frameworks in a disciplined and transparent manner.

1. Engaging with Kraken

The Company’s decision to engage Kraken was based on its reputation as an established digital asset platform offering institutional custody, operational controls, and compliance-oriented infrastructure. SMX does not view this step as speculative in nature, but rather as foundational infrastructure supporting long-term strategy execution.

A key consideration underlying the treasury initiative is the Company’s ongoing development of its Plastic Cycle Token (PCT), a virtual credit mechanism designed to represent verified recycled plastic activity. PCT is not intended to function as a general-purpose cryptocurrency, but as a digitally represented unit of value grounded in SMX’s proprietary verification technology and material tracking capabilities.

Unlike traditional environmental credit systems that rely on estimation or offset modeling, PCT is designed to be based on measured, verifiable material flows. The Company believes that digital infrastructure capable of supporting secure issuance, accounting, and settlement is a necessary prerequisite for such systems to operate efficiently and credibly at scale.

2. Market and Regulatory Context

SMX further notes that current conditions across digital asset infrastructure have improved in terms of institutional participation, operational maturity, and regulatory engagement. These developments have created more favorable conditions for companies developing asset-backed digital frameworks tied to real-world economic activity, including recycling and circular economy applications.

The Company emphasizes that its core focus remains unchanged: delivering material-level verification solutions that enable transparency, accountability, and trust across global supply chains. Treasury initiatives are being developed to support, not distract from, this mission.

SMX will continue to evaluate treasury tools and infrastructure in accordance with Board oversight, regulatory considerations, and balance sheet discipline as it advances its long-term strategy at the intersection of physical materials and digitally represented value systems.

For further information contact:

SMX GENERAL ENQUIRIES

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About SMX

As global businesses face new and complex challenges relating to carbon neutrality and meeting new governmental and regional regulations and standards, SMX is able to offer players along the value chain access to its marking, tracking, measuring and digital platform technology to transition more successfully to a low-carbon economy.

Forward-Looking Statements

The information in this press release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “contemplate,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “intends,” “may,” “will,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “would” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements in this press release may include, for example: matters relating to the Company’s fight against abusive and possibly illegal trading tactics against the Company’s stock; successful launch and implementation of SMX’s joint projects with manufacturers and other supply chain participants of steel, rubber and other materials; changes in SMX’s strategy, future operations, financial position, estimated revenues and losses, projected costs, prospects and plans; SMX’s ability to develop and launch new products and services, including its planned Plastic Cycle Token; SMX’s ability to successfully and efficiently integrate future expansion plans and opportunities; SMX’s ability to grow its business in a cost-effective manner; SMX’s product development timeline and estimated research and development costs; the implementation, market acceptance and success of SMX’s business model; developments and projections relating to SMX’s competitors and industry; and SMX’s approach and goals with respect to technology. These forward-looking statements are based on information available as of the date of this press release, and current expectations, forecasts and assumptions, and involve a number of judgments, risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing views as of any subsequent date, and no obligation is undertaken to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they were made, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. As a result of a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties, actual results or performance may be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Some factors that could cause actual results to differ include: the ability to maintain the listing of the Company’s shares on Nasdaq; changes in applicable laws or regulations; any lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on SMX’s business; the ability to implement business plans, forecasts, and other expectations, and identify and realize additional opportunities; the risk of downturns and the possibility of rapid change in the highly competitive industry in which SMX operates; the risk that SMX and its current and future collaborators are unable to successfully develop and commercialize SMX’s products or services, or experience significant delays in doing so; the risk that the Company may never achieve or sustain profitability; the risk that the Company will need to raise additional capital to execute its business plan, which may not be available on acceptable terms or at all; the risk that the Company experiences difficulties in managing its growth and expanding operations; the risk that third-party suppliers and manufacturers are not able to fully and timely meet their obligations; the risk that SMX is unable to secure or protect its intellectual property; the possibility that SMX may be adversely affected by other economic, business, and/or competitive factors; and other risks and uncertainties described in SMX’s filings from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Contact:

Jeremy Murphy/ jeremy@360bespoke.com

SOURCE: SMX (Security Matters) Public Limited

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire