NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / December 16, 2025 / For a century, the world has operated on a comfortable illusion. Central banks believe they know how much gold they hold. Sovereign wealth funds assume their reserves are exactly what the paperwork claims. Bullion banks trust that what sits beneath their headquarters is perfectly authentic. But the truth is far more fragile. No country on earth has ever conducted a full, bottom-up authentication of its gold reserves. Not one. Reserve systems rely on certificates, refinery stamps, and legacy chain-of-custody documents that lose meaning the moment a bar is melted or restamped. The world's most important financial backstop has never been tested with modern tools.

That era of blind trust is ending. Geopolitical tension, sanctions enforcement, and the rise of illicit bullion flows are pushing nations toward something they have never done before: a comprehensive forensic audit of sovereign gold holdings. When that audit begins, the discoveries will not be subtle. Discrepancies between certificates and physical truth. Bars with incomplete histories. Bullion that cannot prove origin. Refineries whose markings cannot be validated. Once the first cracks appear, the credibility of global gold reserves will shift from trust to evidence.

SMX (NASDAQ:SMX) is positioned squarely at the center of the coming reset. Its molecular identity technology gives gold a permanent fingerprint that survives melting, casting, and decades of storage. And with SMX backed by a substantial equity purchase agreement, it now has the capital to deploy verification infrastructure directly into the sovereign, institutional, and vault ecosystems that will define the future of global reserves.

The World Thinks It Knows What's in Its Vaults... It Doesn't

Most sovereign vaults contain bars that have changed hands, jurisdictions, and ownership more times than any paper trail can fully capture. Some were acquired during political upheaval. Some were inherited from collapsed empires. Some were moved during wartime evacuations. Others came through refineries that no longer exist. These bars sit in perfect stacks beneath central banks, but their identities have been lost to time, heat, and recasting.

When the first nation demands molecular verification of its own holdings, every other nation will face immediate pressure to do the same. No central bank wants to be the one left holding bullion that cannot prove its origin or compliance. No sovereign fund wants to announce that part of its reserves are unverifiable. No government wants to discover that some of the bars it relies on for currency stability were mined in sanctioned regions decades ago. The risk is real, and the incentives to act quickly are intensifying.

The audit will not be driven by curiosity. It will be driven by necessity. Unverified gold is a liability in a world where sanctions violations, counterfeit bars, and illicit networks are becoming geopolitical weapons. To secure their economies, nations will demand proof at a level the legacy system cannot provide.

The Reserve Market Will Split Into Two Tiers Overnight

Once the audits begin, global gold reserves will separate into two categories. Verified gold that carries a persistent molecular identity will become Tier 1 reserve collateral. Unverified gold, even if physically identical, will be treated as Tier 2 collateral with increased risk, reduced mobility, and lower financial utility. Central banks do not accept uncertainty. They accept evidence.

This shift will change everything: Reserves will be repriced. Collateral rules will tighten. Sovereign balance sheets will evolve. International trade agreements will adjust. And, currency stabilization strategies will pivot.

This is not theoretical. It mirrors what happened in sovereign bond markets, credit ratings, and even energy reserves. Once verification becomes available, markets punish anything that lacks it. Nations will not want reserves that fail forensic audit requirements. They will want assets that can withstand scrutiny at the molecular level.

SMX is the only company capable of delivering this verification layer across entire reserves.

The Vault Reset Will Define the Next Era of Gold

And they want to share. The first nation to authenticate its reserves will trigger a chain reaction. Others will follow to avoid reputational and financial disadvantage. A vault that can prove its reserves at a molecular level will command trust globally. A vault that cannot will be viewed as opaque, risky, and outdated.

SMX is building the architecture for this new world. Its technology gives gold a memory, a history, and an identity the market can measure instead of assume. The Vault Reset is coming. Nations that embrace verification will strengthen their financial foundations. Nations that cling to the old system will discover that gold without identity is no longer the safe haven they believed it to be.

And that could cause their reserves to not only lose their luster, but also cost them billions. The better course of action: call SMX.

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: info@securitymattersltd.com

SOURCE: SMX (Security Matters) Public Limited

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