NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / October 14, 2025 / For years, sustainability felt like an invitation-only club - the kind where entry required a government pass, a corporate seat, or a billion-dollar fund. Carbon credits, ESG portfolios, and recycled-material initiatives were sold as democratizing tools. In practice, they built walls instead of bridges: opaque systems with complex ratings, insider access, and limited participation for everyday investors.
That exclusivity is finally cracking, and SMX (NASDAQ:SMX) is the one prying it open. By fusing blockchain infrastructure, molecular traceability, and verified recycling, SMX is redefining how environmental assets are measured, traded, and owned. At the center of it all is the Plastic Cycle Token (PCT) - a proof-based digital credential that authenticates recycled content and brings it into the mainstream financial ecosystem.
Designed for interoperability with tokenization frameworks such as the Ripple platform, the PCT isn't another green badge or speculative coin. It's a verified, compliance-grade asset that turns sustainability into something measurable, accountable, and investable.
From Regulation to Real Assets
The new sustainability landscape isn't running on promises - it's running on proof. The recently enacted GENIUS Act, signed into law by President Trump, provided the legal clarity the digital sector has been chasing for years. It establishes a foundation for verifiable, tokenized assets that link directly to measurable environmental performance.
For SMX, that's not a future to prepare for - it's a present they already built. The company's molecular marking technology embeds encrypted, tamper-proof identifiers directly into physical materials - plastics, textiles, metals, even liquids. That's how SMX gives materials a digital identity that can be traced, audited, and monetized through the entire supply chain.
Each PCT represents a measurable unit of verified recycled plastic - material that's been marked, recovered, and validated through SMX's closed-loop system. It's not theoretical. It's physical proof, digitized. And because it's blockchain-backed, the PCT can move seamlessly through tokenized exchanges as a verified sustainability credential that satisfies both ESG performance metrics and regulatory requirements.
Unlike carbon credits, the PCT isn't a vague offset or an IOU. It's a compliance-ready instrument with real-world utility, an open audit trail, and built-in scarcity. As governments tighten mandates around recycled content - from the EU's packaging quotas to the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act's supply-chain standards - qualified material is becoming one of the most valuable resources in the sustainability economy. SMX is creating the mechanism to verify it and the market to trade it.
A New Generation Enters the Game
The real revolution isn't happening in boardrooms; it's happening on mobile wallets. Gen X and Millennial investors have already redefined what finance looks like - decentralized, digital, and data-driven. But the ESG space remained a walled garden, accessible only through funds, credits, or corporate intermediaries.
That barrier is exactly what SMX is tearing down. The PCT brings sustainability into the open, letting anyone participate in a transparent ecosystem where verified recycled content equals measurable value. Whether it's a waste collector in Vietnam, a manufacturer in Germany, or a digital asset investor in Brooklyn, the model works the same: every verified action earns proof, and every proof becomes an asset.
Built for tokenization, infrastructure like Ripple's provides the ideal environment for PCT's integration. Ripple's speed, scalability, and regulatory-compliant framework make it a natural home for sustainability assets that carry both liquidity and legitimacy. Together, they're creating a category that merges financial performance with environmental accountability - a long-overdue upgrade from assets with a conscience to assets with monetization and compliance proof built in.
Liquidity for the Planet
Sustainability has always needed infrastructure. Legislation just gave it legitimacy. Now SMX is giving it liquidity.
The PCT doesn't replace the recycling economy - it accelerates it. It verifies what's real, rewards what's responsible, and transforms proof into profit. For investors, it opens a new door: an ESG-linked digital asset that's measurable, traceable, and built for the era of transparency.
The next great sustainability movement won't be exclusive. It'll be inclusive - powered by data, open to everyone, and authenticated by proof. And SMX is the one minting the access pass.
References and sources:
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
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
Carbon Credit Market Criticism - Oil majors are the biggest players in voluntary carbon markets, raising transparency concerns. - Carbon Market Watch
Digital financial services to improve formalized access and inclusion. - Poverty Action Lab
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
What's Plaguing Voluntary Carbon Markets? - CSIS.org
What is artificial intelligence (AI) in finance? - IBM.com
California SB 54 - California's SB 54
A Guide to EPR Compliance in India - Recykal
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:
info@securitymattersltd.com
SOURCE: SMX (Security Matters) Public Limited
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https://www.accessnewswire.com/newsroom/en/business-and-professional-services/smx-empowers-gen-x-millennials-and-gen-z-to-invest-in-proof-over-1086570
