Valladolid, Spain Takes the Lead as Europe's "Capital of Proof" for Circular Economies

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NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / November 5, 2025 / Every industrial revolution has a birthplace. The steam engine had Birmingham. The microchip had Silicon Valley. The circular economy now has Valladolid. Inside this quiet corner of Spain, a transformation is taking shape that could define Europe's next century of growth. SMX (NASDAQ: SMX ), the company turning physical materials into digital assets, has announced plans to collaborate with CARTIF, Spain's powerhouse research center, to give circularity a capital city in the EU, and, as importantly, to give the continent proof that progress can be measured in molecules instead of paper and faith.

For decades, sustainability lived in the margins of reports and the language of pledges. Europe promised to reuse, recycle, and reduce. But without verification, ambition stayed abstract. Valladolid is where that changes. Here, in the heart of Castilla y León, industry, government, and innovation have converged around one simple idea: circularity cannot exist without proof. That proof now exists in the form of SMX's molecular " physical-to-digital " platform, a system that gives every material its own digital passport from birth to rebirth.

CARTIF, one of Spain's leading applied-research institutions, has been waiting for a tool like this. Its pilot plants, industrial demonstrators, and sustainability programs cover packaging, renewables, construction, automotive materials, and more. By embedding SMX's traceability system into that ecosystem, the region gains something rare: the ability to track, trace, and certify every recycled or recovered resource in real time. What once required endless documentation can now be confirmed by chemistry itself. And in minutes, not days, weeks, months, or even years.

Tracking the Billions Made

That advance has implications far beyond the lab. The Castilla y León region contributes over €12 billion to Spain's economy. Now, through CARTIF, that industrial output is set to become more efficient, more compliant, and more bankable. Not through billions more in investment but by making proof an asset. This isn't the traditional proof on paper.

With SMX technology embedded, manufacturers can instantly digitally verify the origin and lifecycle of materials, unlocking ESG-linked financing, export credentials, and premium market value. Following Singapore's unprecedented move to "prove" circularity with SMX, CARTIF also intends to show that sustainability carries not just moral weight but measurable worth.

The story unfolding in Valladolid feels less like policy and more like destiny. Every technological movement has its ignition point, the place where theory meets function. For the circular economy in the EU, this is it. SMX's molecular tracers allow materials to remember all their past lives, while CARTIF's industrial infrastructure gives them a new one. Together, they form an immutable feedback loop of regeneration that connects research labs, production lines, logistics hubs, and financial institutions into a single transparent system of truth.

Using Innovation as a Mint

CARTIF's Deputy General Manager, Sergio Sanz, described the alliance in absolute terms: "Our mission is to deploy technologies that help stakeholders meet their sustainability goals. SMX's platform offers exactly the kind of breakthrough capability our clients need to prove and improve circular performance." That clarity of purpose turns Valladolid into more than a regional project. It makes it the newest testing ground for an entirely new kind of economy where verification itself fuels competitiveness. And compliance.

Imagine a future where every product, from an EV battery to a building panel, carries a digital history encoded within it. Governments could track compliance in seconds. Stakeholders could verify environmental impact before allocating capital. Consumers could choose brands based on proof instead of marketing. That is the world SMX and CARTIF are constructing from the inside out. Just like in Singapore, the infrastructure being built in Valladolid will ripple across borders, creating a unified standard for measurable sustainability.

Spain's advantage lies not only in its innovation but in its timing. As the EU tightens environmental legislation and mandates traceability for everything from packaging to rare earths, Valladolid is already living in that future. The SMX-CARTIF collaboration gives Spain a practical head start, turning ESG compliance from a regulatory burden into a competitive export. The country that once powered Europe with steel and ceramics is now poised to power it again. This time, using proof as its primary asset.

Powering the Industrial Revolution 3.0

Every industrial revolution rewrites how value moves. Version 2.0 digitized communication and commerce. This newest version, 3.0, will digitize materials itself. And here's the thing to know most: SMX's technology doesn't just digitize resources to trace them; it transforms them into verified data streams that can be priced, financed, and traded. It's an entirely new economy-one where the molecules we use tell their own story of accountability.

Valladolid is no longer just a dot on Spain's map. It is becoming the blueprint for Europe's circular future. What Silicon Valley was to software, Valladolid is to EU sustainability. A proving ground where science meets scale, and where trust isn't assumed, it's earned. The EU's verified economy is being forged in Valladolid, one material at a time, in a city that has risen from the factory floor to the world stage as more than a contributor to the circular mission. It is becoming the EU's capital of proof.

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 gold, 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