NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK / ACCESS Newswire / January 9, 2026 / Gold has never been short on mystique. It appears polished and permanent, as if it’s always existed exactly where you found it-on a ring, in a vault, behind glass at a jeweler’s counter. But the reality is far messier. Before it becomes something beautiful or valuable, gold passes through mines, refineries, traders, borders, and buyers, often leaving very little evidence of where it’s been or how it got there.
For most of history, that opacity was simply accepted. Precious metals were valuable precisely because they were hard to trace. Their pasts faded the moment they were melted down and reshaped.
That may no longer be the case.
SMX (NASDAQ:SMX; SMXWW), a company already known for tracking plastics and raw materials across global supply chains, is exploring how the same core technology could be applied to precious metals like gold and silver. The concept is deceptively simple: give materials a way to remember their own history-without altering their appearance or performance.
SMX does this through molecular marking paired with a digital tracking platform. The markers are invisible, microscopic, and designed to survive the harsh realities of manufacturing, transport, heat, and time. They aren’t labels or tags that can fall off. They function more like a material-level fingerprint-embedded directly into the substance itself.
If applied at the mining stage, gold could carry that identity forward through every transformation: refining, trading, storage, resale, and reuse. Each handoff could be recorded, creating a continuous, verifiable chain of custody. The metal wouldn’t just exist in the present-it would arrive with proof.
That level of transparency has real-world consequences.
For consumers, provenance has become more than a buzzword. Ethical sourcing claims are common, but documentation is often thin. With molecular tracking, a jeweler wouldn’t have to rely on trust or branding. They could show verifiable data confirming that the gold in a ring avoided conflict zones, illegal mining, or environmentally destructive practices. The story behind the metal would be measurable, not rhetorical.
Authentication is another pressure point. Counterfeit bullion and tampered coins are a persistent issue, especially as gold becomes more popular with retail investors. Molecular identifiers add a powerful layer of verification, making it far more difficult for fraudulent metals to circulate undetected.
Then there’s the financial side. As precious metals increasingly intersect with digital markets, tokenization, and institutional trading platforms, proof of origin becomes essential. A digitally tracked gold asset isn’t just an object of value-it’s an auditable one. That distinction matters to regulators, investors, and anyone who wants confidence without complications.
Sustainability also enters the picture. Metals can be recycled endlessly, but once they’re melted down, tracking reuse becomes guesswork. With persistent identity, companies and governments could finally measure how circular precious-metal systems truly are-where material is reused, where it’s lost, and where inefficiencies hide.
No, this doesn’t mean your bracelet will suddenly develop opinions or your silverware will report your spending habits. The technology operates quietly, in the background, doing exactly what it’s designed to do: replace assumptions with evidence.
Gold has always been prized for its permanence. With tools like SMX’s, it could also become one of the most transparent materials in the world.
Contact:
Jeremy Murphy/ jeremymurphy@me.com
SOURCE: SMX (Security Matters) Public Limited
View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire
