The Albany Gazette - Cotton Just Became a Digital Asset, and SMX Is Building its Market Where Proof Sets the Price

SMX (NASDAQ:SMX) just broke that pattern. It announced that through a multi-day industrial pilot, it proved that recycled cotton can be marked at the molecular level the moment it re-enters the value chain and can carry that identity through every transformation that follows. Shredding. Spraying. Carding. Yarn spinning. Fabric formation. Finishing. The cotton held its digital fingerprint every step of the way.

This is more than a scientific achievement. It is the moment cotton stops being a commodity defined only by appearance and price. It becomes a data-rich asset class with authenticated origin, composition, and lifecycle history. In other words, cotton becomes digital.

Turning Cotton Into a Traceable, Tradeable Digital Object

Once cotton carries a persistent molecular identity, everything changes. The fiber is no longer just material. It becomes a verifiable object that can be scanned, certified, and transacted with full confidence in its history. Brands know how much recycled content is present. Manufacturers verify blend ratios rather than guess. Regulators view authenticated records instead of self-reported claims.

This is the natural evolution of SMX's mission. The company has already demonstrated how plastics, metals, and rubber can carry molecular identity. Cotton now joins that portfolio, unlocking a new category of "identity-backed materials" that behave more like digital assets than traditional commodities. They can be audited, priced, and traded based on measurable attributes rather than declarations.

And this is where SMX's broader system comes into focus. Molecular identity is the foundation. The data it generates is the infrastructure. But the value layer is where the economics activate. The Plastic Cycle Token (PCT) proved that verified materials can be financially represented and monetized in a marketplace aligned to the real performance of circularity. By turning proof into a tradable asset, SMX created the mechanism that links sustainability to economic reward.

Cotton now steps into that same architecture.

Where Verified Cotton Becomes a Premium Digital Commodity

With authenticated material data feeding into Product Digital Passports, the supply chain becomes a living ledger. Every bale, every blend, every finished textile carries a traceable identity that can be monetized through verification. Recyclers gain the ability to certify their output. Manufacturers gain premium pricing leverage for verified recycled content. Brands gain authenticated ESG performance, not narrative-driven claims.

And by integrating cotton into the same value layer enabled by the PCT, SMX introduces the blueprint for future material-backed tokens that reward circularity through real-world evidence. The market no longer needs to guess which fibers are recycled or responsibly sourced. The material itself becomes the proof. Once proof becomes programmable, new financial models emerge.

The implications extend far beyond compliance. Verified cotton can participate in new trade corridors, incentive structures, and pricing frameworks, where provenance, recycled content, and lifecycle performance determine value. In this system, the digital identity is not an add-on. It becomes the currency of the material itself.

A New Future Where Materials Compete on Truth, Not Claims

This is the real shift taking place. Cotton can now be authenticated at the molecular level. That authentication can feed into digital passports. And those passports can connect to economic systems that reward verified sustainability. The supply chain stops being a black box and becomes a transparent, value-generating network.

SMX did not just give cotton an identity. It gave cotton a digital life. It gave recyclers a market. It gave brands a truth layer. And it gave global trade something it has never had in textiles, a system where materials compete on verified performance, not marketing.

Cotton is now a digital asset. And SMX just built the operating system that will let the entire industry trade on truth.

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

(M.Scott--TAG)