The Albany Gazette - Why Verified Gold Will Trade Above Legacy Bullion (NASDAQ:SMX)

That fragility is finally catching up. As the world confronts counterfeit bars, shadow channels, sanctioned supply, and mislabeled origin stories, investors are waking up to a harsh reality. Not all gold is equal. Not all gold is trusted. And not all gold deserves the same price. The gold market is preparing to split into two: premium verified gold and discount legacy gold. The divide will be wide.

SMX (NASDAQ:SMX) is the catalyst behind that split. Its molecular identity technology gives gold a permanent fingerprint that survives melting, refining, alloying, and recasting. It turns a bar from an object of assumption into an object of proof. And now, with SMX's $111.5 million EPA, the company has the capital to deploy this verification infrastructure across the biggest precious-metal hubs on earth.

Where Legacy Bullion Fails, Premium Bullion Begins
Legacy gold relies on certificates, stamps, serial numbers, and trust networks that collapse the moment the metal hits a furnace. You can counterfeit a stamp. You can forge a certificate. You can relabel origin. And once a bar becomes grain or scrap, it becomes anonymous. Traders know this. Refiners know this. Vault operators know this. They simply haven't had an alternative.

But the cost of anonymity is rising fast. Regulators are tightening import rules. Banks are re-auditing vault stockpiles. Exchanges are encountering purity discrepancies. Even reputable refiners are discovering that paperwork is no longer enough to protect them. Markets built on trust eventually break under the weight of unverifiable supply. Gold is approaching that breaking point now.

Premium bullion changes the entire equation. When gold carries a molecular identity that cannot be erased, duplicated, or faked, the market stops pricing assumptions and starts pricing truth. That difference is not theoretical. It is economic. Verified gold becomes a superior asset because its risk profile is measurably lower.

Where SMX Creates Value, the Market Creates a New Price Tier
When a refiner, sovereign buyer, or bank can instantly authenticate a bar, confidence changes. Border checks accelerate. Insurance premiums drop. Compliance becomes streamlined instead of burdensome. Transactions settle faster because every participant knows exactly what they are receiving. Trust is no longer a handshake. It is a scan.

This is the birth of the premium tier. Verified gold will not trade at the same price as gold that cannot prove historical purity or origin. Markets always pay more for assets with lower risk. Just as certified diamonds command more than uncertified stones, verified gold will command more than bullion validated only by paper. The shift is inevitable because the financial incentive is undeniable.

SMX is positioned at the center of this transformation. The company is already activating verification systems with Goldstrom and trueGold, and working within ecosystems like the DMCC, where premium markets are taking shape. SMX's new $111.5 million equity purchase deal ensures SMX can scale fast enough to match global demand. A new gold standard is forming, and SMX owns the proof layer.

The Two-Tier Gold Market Will Define the Next Decade
In the coming years, gold will not be divided by geography or refinery. It will be divided by identity. On one side will be verified molecular-proof bullion. On the other will be legacy bars with unverifiable pasts. Investors will choose the tier with clarity. Regulators will demand the tier with traceability. Insurers will prefer the tier with a provable history.

Legacy gold will trade, but likely at a discount. A potentially steep one. The market always punishes opacity. What it rewards is certainty. And certainty is exactly what SMX built into the metal itself. Premium bullion will become the global benchmark because it eliminates hidden risk and elevates trust from narrative to evidence.

The new era of gold is not about supply. It is about proof. SMX is building the infrastructure, the standard, and the premium tier that the market has been missing. And once verified gold becomes the safe-haven of choice, the rest of the industry will be forced to follow.

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: [email protected]

SOURCE: SMX (Security Matters) Public Limited

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire

(D.Lewis--TAG)