The Albany Gazette - SMX and CARTIF Plan to Make Spain the EU's "Capital of Verified Circularity"

This isn't a ceremonial partnership. It's a revolution built from the ground up, where chemistry, code, and credibility come together to give sustainability what it has always lacked: verification. And Spain's Castilla y León region, which produces more than €12.7 billion in industrial output each year, will be the EU's newest proving ground. But here's the catch: the region's next stage of growth may not come from producing more but from proving more.

By embedding SMX's molecular "physical-to-digital" tracing system into CARTIF's pilot plants and laboratories, Spain gains something it has never had before: the ability to verify where materials come from, how they move, and when they return to the value chain. This is how the circular economy matures. Not through aspiration, but through authentication that proves accountability.

Monetizing Accountability

That transformation begins with SMX, whose technology does more than bridge ambition and accountability; it monetizes it through a molecular tracing system that turns materials into their own proof of origin. Invisible chemical markers bond at the molecular level, creating a digital passport that travels with each product from creation to recovery. Whether it's packaging, computer hardware, metals, renewable components, or construction materials, every item gains a digital memory that can be verified at any stage of its life. What once relied on paperwork and promises now runs on chemistry and truth.

For decades, sustainability has been guided more by intention than by evidence. Reports filled with estimates and certifications built on trust all tried to approximate progress. SMX replaces that uncertainty with a proof system embedded directly into the material itself. Each movement, from creation to reuse, is logged and verified on the block-chain. No signatures. No declarations. Only evidence that endures. But this isn't just for record-keeping and proof of provenance.

CARTIF will show how to turn SMX's science into measurable impact, serving as Europe's proving ground for technologies ready to move from pilot to production. With SMX integrated across its programs, Spain can operate with a real-time feedback loop that connects research with results. Each pilot plant becomes a generator of verified data that companies can use to meet compliance goals, win grants, and access sustainability-linked financing. Validation that once took years now happens in minutes, turning innovation into measurable growth.

Speed as a Currency

That speed changes everything. It converts verification into value and turns time into a competitive advantage. How so? By the SMX-CARTIF partnership, linking environmental performance directly to financial performance. Every verified molecule becomes an asset that banks can underwrite, regulators can trust, and brands can market. The circular economy no longer drains resources: it generates them. With that, transparency is no longer a burden; it's a catalyst.

Spain's interest follows experience gained across the world. Before arriving in Europe, SMX proved its platform in Singapore through a national-scale circularity program with A*STAR, one of ASEAN's leading research institutions. That initiative demonstrated SMX's ability to track materials, digitize waste streams, and create a verified trading layer for recycled content. The success of that system across ASEAN became a foundation for this European expansion, connecting continents through a unified network of traceable, tradeable sustainability.

Said more simply, SMX offers a universal language for circularity. The same molecular system that authenticates recycled plastics in Valladolid can verify renewable components in a German turbine or reclaimed steel in a French skyscraper. Proof scales naturally. The more industries that participate, the stronger and more valuable the network becomes. Each verified material strengthens a digital ecosystem of trust that binds Europe's industrial core into one measurable framework.

Changing the Narrative About Circularity

CARTIF intends to prove that point. Its projects across packaging, renewables, construction, automotive, and critical materials are designed to quantify progress with molecular precision. Through its planned integration with SMX, each initiative becomes a real-time demonstration of how proof can drive performance. Circularity is no longer a gesture of goodwill. It has evolved into a measurable, finance-ready standard unlocking billions in opportunity across the European Union.

Spain, long a manufacturing powerhouse, is now emerging as Europe's proving ground for circular growth. The forthcoming SMX and CARTIF alliance will unite research, industry, and government within one ecosystem of verification. Universities, startups, and corporations share the same trusted data. Innovation moves in coordination, driven by evidence instead of expectation.

Circularity only works when the proof is universal. It is not enough to recycle, reuse, or redesign. The world must know it actually happened. SMX provides that certainty by connecting the physical and digital worlds, giving every material a traceable identity. CARTIF provides the scale to turn that proof into a measurable impact. Together, they plan to transform circularity from compliance into commerce and verification into value.

This is the beginning of Europe's next industrial chapter; a shift from linear consumption to regenerative growth. Every molecule tracked by SMX carries economic weight. Every verified transaction becomes proof of progress. Every partnership built on data moves the continent closer to true material efficiency. The circular economy is no longer a promise.

Thanks to SMX and CARTIF, in the EU, as in ASEAN, it's a reality that will be measured, profitable, and, most importantly, real.

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 gold, 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.

EMAIL: [email protected]

SOURCE: SMX (Security Matters) Public Limited

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire

(E.Taylor--TAG)