The Albany Gazette - From Exclusive to Inclusive: SMX's PCT Brings the Value of Sustainable Assets to the New Age Investor

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / July 28, 2025 / For years, the sustainability space has operated more like an exclusive club than a public movement-structured by governments, corporations, and financial institutions to serve their own agendas. Tools such as carbon credits, ESG funds, and recycled material programs were introduced under the banner of democratizing environmental responsibility. In reality, they evolved into opaque, insider-driven systems-full of abstract ratings, high barriers to entry, and little room for meaningful participation from everyday people, especially younger generations.

But that outdated model is starting to show its cracks-and its age. And SMX (Security Matters (NASDAQ:SMX) is capitalizing, dismantling the old sustainability playbook by combining blockchain infrastructure, asset traceability, and verified recycling into a next-generation asset: the Plastic Cycle Token (PCT).

Built for interoperability with tokenization ecosystems like the Ripple platform, the PCT doesn't just stand for environmental responsibility-it authenticates it and creates a verifiable, tradable credential with tangible value in the cryptocurrency economy.

This presents more than an untapped market opportunity for SMX to exploit. It's also the breakthrough that Gen X and Millennial investors have been waiting for: an ESG-linked digital asset that offers performance, transparency, and measurable environmental impact.

Supported By Regulatory Framework

The GENIUS Act, recently signed into U.S. law by President Trump, has provided the regulatory clarity the crypto industry has been seeking for years. It delivers more than just a green light for financial innovation-it lays the legal foundation for blockchain-based verification systems to support sustainability across the entire supply chain. For SMX, it affirms what they've already built. Their core technology embeds encrypted, tamper-proof markers into physical materials like plastics, textiles, metals, and liquids. These markers create a material identity that can be tracked, audited, and monetized across its entire lifecycle.

That traceability, combined with blockchain verification and AI analytics, powers the Plastic Cycle Token. Each token represents a unit of recycled plastic that's been marked, recovered, and validated through SMX's closed-loop system. This isn't theoretical. It's physical. And it's ready to move through tokenized platforms as a credential that satisfies regulatory requirements and ESG performance metrics.

Moreover, the PCT is not a vanity token or a speculative coin. It's a compliance-grade asset with a utility footprint, a transparent audit trail, and increasing demand. As global policy tightens-across the EU, U.S., and Asia-companies are required to prove the use of recycled content. But there's a problem: qualified, verifiable material is in short supply. That scarcity translates into market value. The PCT can meet that demand, providing brands, manufacturers, and even governments with a new way to fulfill sustainability mandates, while investors gain access to a rising asset class.

GenX and Millennials Get Their Chance

And it's not just institutional players who benefit. The real revolution is how this model opens up sustainability investing to everyday people. Across the world, younger investors are already managing their finances on mobile wallets and crypto platforms, bypassing traditional banks and brokers. Yet the ESG market has remained largely closed off to them-limited to vague funds or inaccessible credits with no clear impact. SMX changes that by giving users the ability to participate directly in a transparent, decentralized system. Whether someone is collecting waste in Southeast Asia or buying tokens on a U.S. exchange, the PCT enables participation in an ecosystem where sustainability is proven, priced, and profitable.

Ripple's blockchain infrastructure presents a natural fit for the Plastic Cycle Token. As a fast, scalable platform built for asset tokenization and designed to support regulatory-compliant tokens linked to real-world value, Ripple is quickly becoming a cornerstone of ESG-focused digital finance. The Plastic Cycle Token aligns seamlessly with this framework-offering the potential to become a new class of crypto asset that combines liquidity, traceability, and environmental impact. For investors seeking to align profit with purpose, it could be the ideal asset for the next wave of tokenized sustainability.

This isn't just crypto with a conscience. It's crypto that counts-measurable, trackable, and increasingly valuable as regulation creates a hard floor for supply and a high ceiling for demand.

The sustainability movement has always needed infrastructure. With new legislation passed, it has that. Now, through SMX innovations, it can also have liquidity. And best of all, the new generation of investors-from Berlin to Malaysia to Brooklyn-finally get a seat at the high-stakes table.

References and sources:

1. Digital Banking Adoption Statistics (2024) - 77% of U.S. consumers prefer digital banking; 80% of millennials and 72% of Gen Z use mobile-first financial services. - Bankrate

2. The global fintech sector saw its revenues increase three times that of the finance sector as a whole in 2024, as it enters a new "era of maturity". - Computer Weekly

3. Carbon Credit Market Criticism - Oil majors are the biggest players in voluntary carbon markets, raising transparency concerns. - Carbon Market Watch

4. Digital financial services to improve formalized access and inclusion. - Poverty Action Lab

5. Plastic Cycle Token and Market Design - SMX's Plastic Cycle Token creates traceable, tradeable plastic reuse verification in response to new sustainability quotas. - Recycling Product News

6. What's Plaguing Voluntary Carbon Markets? - CSIS.org

7. What is artificial intelligence (AI) in finance? - IBM.com

8. California SB 54 - California's SB 54

9. A Guide to EPR Compliance in India - Recykal

10. ESG and sustainable investment outlook - Broadridge

About SMX (Security Matters) Public Limited Company
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.

Media Contact For This Release:
[email protected]

SOURCE: SMX (Security Matters) Public Limited

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(K.Jones--TAG)