The Albany Gazette - SMX Moves Past Proof and Into the NAFRA Room Where Implementation Begins

Earlier this year, SMX completed proof-of-concept trials for identifying and sorting flame-retardant plastic. These trials were conducted in a controlled, industrial configuration with NAFRA oversight. They were designed to answer the only question that matters at the beginning of any materials innovation. Can it work at speed, at scale, with precision that meets real-world demands.

Those trials delivered 99% to 100% accuracy at 3 m/s, including on carbon-black plastics that standard optical systems fail to reliably identify. They also validated SMX's integrated stack using molecular markers, high-speed detection, and a digital passport that maintains identity throughout the life of the plastic. This created a foundation of demonstrated capability. It moved SMX out of the category of possibility to proven performance.

A Room That Represents the Industry's Core Decision Makers

The new invitation places SMX in a small, curated forum with the people who define how flame-retardant materials are used, managed, and recycled in North America. These audiences are not passive observers. They shape standards, advise regulators, lead compliance frameworks, and influence how circularity infrastructure evolves across multiple industry segments.

This matters because NAFRA is not evaluating options in theory. They already watched the technology work. That makes this next meeting a progression rather than an introduction. When a standards-setting group invites a company back, the discussion shifts from feasibility to the practical questions of how a system could be deployed across the value chain.

Rooms like this also attract institutional and philanthropic capital groups that view circularity as infrastructure. They focus on systems that change outcomes, not marketing claims. They examine technologies that can support long-horizon improvements in traceability, compliance, and material recovery. SMX now sits in that conversation because the data already demonstrated its capability.

From Demonstration to the Implementation Conversation

The real story here is not the presentation slot itself. It is the stage of the relationship. SMX has already proven its ability to identify and sort BFR-containing plastics with an accuracy level the industry has not consistently achieved. That step is complete. The next step is to show what an operational rollout could look like when applied across supply chains that require both safety and compliance.

This is not a sales pitch. It is a strategic engagement. The people in this room are capable of shaping adoption pathways, evaluating how a technology integrates with existing recycling systems, and identifying opportunities for consistent traceability across plastic categories. They are the ones who recognize when a proof point is ready for the next conversation.

SMX enters this phase positioned to participate in discussions that influence long-term industry direction. The company is no longer establishing that its system works. It is demonstrating why it matters. The invitation signals that the progress made in earlier trials has brought SMX into the part of the process where leaders consider how to build on validated results.

A Step Forward That Reflects Real Momentum

The broader implications extend beyond flame-retardant plastics. Once a sector adopts a system that assigns molecular identities, the benefits naturally translate to adjacent categories. Identity becomes a norm. Auditable data becomes expected. Circularity becomes measurable instead of theoretical. This is why early validation inside a high-scrutiny material class carries so much strategic importance.

For SMX, this next engagement reinforces that molecular identity is shifting from an innovation to a viable structural tool. The company has built a platform that can document the life of a material, enable high-speed identification, and provide transparency aligned with regulatory trends in both North America and abroad. These are qualities that industry leaders consider essential when planning the future of recycling infrastructure.

The invitation confirms that SMX has reached a new stage. It is not simply demonstrating technology. It is participating in the dialogue that shapes how technology becomes part of a broader system. This is the progression every materials solution needs to reach, and SMX is now firmly inside that zone.

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

This communication contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the Company's expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions, or strategies regarding the future. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts, events, or circumstances that SMX expects, believes, or anticipates will or may occur in the future, including statements relating to the Company's business strategy, financial position, future operations, future revenues, projected costs, prospects, plans, and objectives of management, as well as statements regarding the Company's liquidity position, capital needs, anticipated financing timelines, expected dilution, future share issuances, the anticipated use of proceeds, expected performance of the amended financing agreement, market conditions, adoption of the Company's technology, commercial pipeline, regulatory approvals, industry trends, competitive position, and any assumptions underlying the foregoing, are forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements are based on the Company's current expectations and assumptions regarding future events and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, and factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, risks relating to: the Company's ability to successfully execute its operating plans; the Company's ability to obtain additional financing on acceptable terms or at all; the Company's ability to maintain compliance with Nasdaq listing standards; market conditions and volatility in the trading price of the Company's ordinary shares; dilution that may result from the Company's existing financing arrangements; the Company's ability to access capital under the standby equity purchase agreement and related amendments; the timing and occurrence of any closings under such agreements; the Company's expectations regarding its financial runway and future capital needs; risks associated with the Company's ability to scale its technology, secure customer adoption, or convert pilot programs into commercial deployments; risks relating to supply chain conditions and global economic trends; the Company's dependence on key personnel; the Company's ability to maintain intellectual property protection and defend against infringement claims; changes in applicable laws and regulations; general economic, political, and market conditions; risks relating to digital asset markets and the Company's potential future acquisition or holding of digital assets; and other factors detailed from time to time in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including the Company's Annual Report on Form 20-F and its subsequent reports filed with the SEC.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made and are not guarantees of future performance. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. Actual results may differ materially from those anticipated due to various risks and uncertainties, and all forward-looking statements contained herein are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.

EMAIL: [email protected]

SOURCE: SMX (Security Matters) Public Limited

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire

(R.White--TAG)