<div id="readability-page-1"><div>NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / December 15, 2025 / For more than a century, the global financial system has rested on an unchallenged assumption. Central banks believe they know what sits in their vaults. Sovereign wealth funds trust the numbers on their balance sheets. Bullion banks operate as if refinery stamps and certificates are enough. But no nation on earth has ever conducted a full, bottom-up forensic audit of its precious-metal reserves using modern verification tools. Not once.That blind spot has persisted because the system was built on trust, paperwork, and inertia. Gold bars move. They are melted, recast, re-stamped, and re-certified. Every time that happens, identity collapses into assumption. Certificates do not survive heat. Stamps do not carry memory. Chain-of-custody documents only work until they do not.That era is ending, and it will not end quietly.Geopolitical tension, sanctions enforcement, and the rise of illicit metals flows are converging into a single pressure point. Nations are being forced to confront a question they have avoided for decades. Can their reserves actually prove what they are? When the first sovereign audit begins, the problem will not be hypothetical. It will be physical, visible, and impossible to ignore.The Vaults Look Certain, The Data Is Not.Most sovereign vaults hold bars with fragmented histories. Some were acquired during regime changes. Some were transferred during wartime evacuations. Others passed through refineries that no longer exist. Many have been melted and recast multiple times. On paper, they are pristine. In reality, their identities have been erased by time and process.When one nation demands molecular verification of its reserves, the rest will have no choice but to follow. No central bank wants to be the outlier holding assets that cannot withstand forensic scrutiny. No government wants to discover that part of its monetary backstop traces back to sanctioned or illicit sources. Gold that cannot prove its origin becomes a liability, not a hedge.This is not about curiosity. It is about compliance, credibility, and financial defense.Silver Is the Catalyst the Market OverlookedGold will face the spotlight, but silver will force the issue.Unlike gold, silver does not sit quietly in vaults. It moves constantly through industrial supply chains, electronics, energy systems, medical devices, and advanced manufacturing. It is refined, alloyed, consumed, and recycled at scale. That velocity makes silver the weakest link in the precious-metals trust chain, and therefore the most revealing.TrueSilver, SMX's (NASDAQ:SMX) molecularly verified silver platform, exposes the same flaw that exists in gold, but at industrial speed. Once silver can prove its identity through melting, refining, and reuse, the question becomes unavoidable. Why should gold, the world's ultimate reserve asset, operate with less verification than industrial silver?TrueSilver does not just authenticate silver. It sets the benchmark that gold can no longer escape.A Two-Tier Reserve System Is InevitableOnce molecular verification enters sovereign vaults, the reserve market will split instantly.Tier 1 reserves will consist of metals that carry persistent, verifiable identity at the material level. Tier 2 reserves will consist of metals that rely on legacy documentation, assumptions, and trust. Physically identical bars will no longer be financially equal.Central banks do not price uncertainty generously. Collateral rules will tighten. Inter-sovereign transactions will demand higher standards. Balance sheets will be reassessed. The moment verification exists, anything without it is discounted.This is how markets always behave. Bonds, energy reserves, and even commodities all went through this transition. Once proof became measurable, the unverified paid the price.SMX Is Building the Verification Layer that the System LacksSMX sits at the center of this transition because it solves the one problem the legacy system cannot. Identity that survives transformation.Its molecular marking technology gives precious metals a permanent fingerprint that endures melting, casting, storage, and time. Gold remembers. Silver remembers. Provenance becomes measurable, not assumed.With TrueSilver already demonstrating how verification works in high-velocity industrial environments, SMX is extending that same architecture into sovereign and institutional vaults. This is not theoretical infrastructure. It is deployable, scalable, and aligned with how regulators and financial institutions already operate.The result is not just compliance. It is credibility.The Vault Reset Is ComingThe first nation to authenticate its reserves will trigger a chain reaction. Others will move quickly to avoid reputational risk, financial discounting, and geopolitical exposure. Vaults that can prove their holdings will command trust. Vaults that cannot will be questioned.Gold without identity will lose part of its luster. Silver without verification will lose its legitimacy. And reserves built on assumption will discover the cost of certainty arriving late.SMX is not betting on panic. It is preparing for inevitability.About SMXAs 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 StatementsThe information in this press release includes &#34;forward-looking statements&#34; 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 &#34;anticipate,&#34; &#34;believe,&#34; &#34;contemplate,&#34; &#34;continue,&#34; &#34;could,&#34; &#34;estimate,&#34; &#34;expect,&#34; &#34;forecast,&#34; &#34;intends,&#34; &#34;may,&#34; &#34;will,&#34; &#34;might,&#34; &#34;plan,&#34; &#34;possible,&#34; &#34;potential,&#34; &#34;predict,&#34; &#34;project,&#34; &#34;should,&#34; &#34;would&#34; 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.comSOURCE: SMX (Security Matters) Public LimitedView the original press release on ACCESS Newswire</div></div>

Gold reserves are set to face their first comprehensive audit using modern verification tools, driven by geopolitical tensions and the rise of illicit metal flows. Silver, due to its constant movement through industrial supply chains, will catalyze this shift. SMX's TrueSilver platform offers molecular verification for silver, setting a new standard for gold. This will lead to a two-tier reserve system, where verified metals are more valuable. SMX's technology ensures permanent identity for precious metals, preparing for inevitable market changes.

Gold Reserves Are About to Face Their First Real Audit, Silver Will Force It