NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / January 20, 2026 / At first glance, the announcement that SMX (NASDAQ:SMX) has opened a corporate account with Kraken may appear to be a routine treasury disclosure. Read quickly, it can sound like a simple operational update, the kind that blends into the background of public-company communications. That reaction is understandable, but it overlooks the broader context in which this decision was made.

What matters here is not the account itself, but the intent behind it and the timing of the move. This is not about market timing, price exposure, or signaling enthusiasm for digital assets. It reflects a deliberate decision to establish infrastructure early, before it becomes necessary under regulatory or commercial pressure. With SMX built around verification and accountability, that sequencing is a strategic choice, not an administrative one. Here's why.

SMX operates at the meeting point of physical materials and digital verification. Verifying materials at the molecular level creates proof, but proof alone does not create an operating system. Once verified outcomes exist, they must be handled within frameworks that meet enterprise, financial, and regulatory expectations. This announcement about Kraken signals that SMX is preparing for that transition. More importantly, from demonstrating capability to supporting scale.

1. From Verification to Institutional Infrastructure

Those following SMX know that it has long emphasized that verification must precede monetization. Its technology does precisely that by authenticating physical substances, creating digital twins, and tracking materials across complex supply chains. That work establishes factual certainty. But factual certainty alone does not ensure that verified activity can be integrated into real economic systems.

For that to happen, verified outcomes must be supported by infrastructure capable of reconciliation, auditability, and governance. Treasury strategy becomes relevant precisely at this stage, not as a financial optimization exercise, but as a structural enabler. Infrastructure decisions determine whether verified data remains informational or becomes operational.

Opening an institutional account with Kraken fits squarely into this progression. This is no retail level addition. Corporate and institutional accounts with Kraken are subject to enhanced due diligence, governance review, and compliance standards that differ materially from retail access. In other words, this is not a casual or self-directed relationship. It reflects a treasury-level engagement designed to support balance sheet assets under formal oversight rather than individual or transactional use.

By framing this engagement as infrastructure-oriented rather than transactional, SMX reinforces that the objective is preparedness, not activity. The company is establishing controlled access to mature digital infrastructure so future systems, when activated, can operate within accepted institutional boundaries.

2. Making the Plastic Cycle Token Operationally Credible

This infrastructure readiness becomes especially relevant when viewed alongside SMX's long-term development of the Plastic Cycle Token (PCT). PCT has consistently been positioned as a virtual credit linked to verified recycled plastic activity, not as a general-purpose digital currency. Its purpose is to represent measured outcomes grounded in authenticated material flows rather than estimates or offset-based assumptions.

Until now, that positioning relied primarily on the strength of SMX's verification technology. While necessary, verification alone does not address how such a system would function in practice. Without visible preparation around custody, accounting, and settlement, skepticism was inevitable, regardless of technical merit.

By aligning treasury and accounting infrastructure under board authorization, SMX begins to close that gap. SMX is demonstrating that its PCT is being designed to function within real financial controls, with governance, transparency, and auditability addressed before commercialization. This step does not launch PCT or imply near-term monetization. Instead, it removes a structural objection by showing that the operational foundation is being built deliberately and in the correct sequence.

3. Positioning Ahead of Regulation and Market Demand

The broader regulatory and market environment makes this approach particularly relevant. Policymakers and industry bodies are increasingly focused on digital product passports, lifecycle accountability, and verifiable circular economy metrics. While implementation details continue to evolve, the direction of travel is clear.

Companies that wait for mandates often find themselves constrained by rushed decisions and fragmented systems. SMX's approach reflects a preference for readiness over reaction, using the current window to prepare infrastructure while standards are still forming. Treasury readiness becomes a way to absorb future requirements rather than scramble to meet them.

This also explains why the significance of this announcement is unlikely to show up immediately in revenue or share price movement. Infrastructure decisions of this kind are designed to reduce execution risk over time, not to create short-term optics. Ultimately, this announcement does not redefine what SMX does. It reinforces how the company thinks, aligning verification, governance, and treasury infrastructure so SMX can move from proof to performance without friction. The best part, SMX is doing this at a time when market and regulatory demand are converging.

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.

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SOURCE: SMX (Security Matters) Public Limited