The Destructive and Relentless Takeover of the Luxury Brand Intensifies

MIAMI, FL / ACCESS Newswire / March 17, 2025 / The luxury market is under siege. Counterfeits, fraudulent goods, and supply chain manipulation are no longer just nuisances-they are an existential threat to brands that have spent decades, even centuries, building their prestige. From high-end watches and designer jeans to luxury automobiles and private jets, the very foundation of exclusivity is being eroded.

Yet, instead of addressing the problem at its root, many brands throw billions at reactionary cybersecurity patchwork solutions instead of counter-attacking the breaches and stopping them at the source, including hardware, metallic objects, fabrics, or animal-based materials like leather and cashmere.

This is where SMX enters and changes the game, redefining the battlefield for luxury authentication. More than just a reactive security measure, SMX embeds immutable, traceable molecular markers directly into materials, creating a fingerprint that follows a product from inception to final sale-and even through recycling. As Frost & Sullivan point out, this technology isn't just about verification; it's about protecting the very essence of pedigree, where trust is the ultimate currency.

Fortifying the Lines of Defense

Now, SMX is taking this even further. By integrating its groundbreaking marker technology into NFC and RFID chips, the company sets a new standard for traceability, authentication, and durability in high-value goods. Embedding its proprietary coating into off-the-shelf chips, SMX is transforming how electronic components-including those in luxury automobiles, smart wearables, and designer fashion-are safeguarded.

These chips don't just verify authenticity; they defend it. Resistant to counterfeiting, unauthorized tampering, and harsh environmental stressors, they ensure that authenticity is verifiable at every stage of a product's lifecycle. That's a game-changer-particularly at the boutique level, where even the most untrained verification sleuths can now access undeniable proof of authenticity.

With counterfeiters going high-tech, producing near-flawless imitations, luxury brands need more than just tradition to protect their legacy. They need SMX's ironclad, molecular-level assurance.

Keeping it Real

And the urgency couldn't be greater. Imagine a world where a $50,000 Rolex is indistinguishable from a $500 knockoff. Or, where a diamond engagement ring symbolizing lifelong commitment is nothing more than a glass-based imposter with no provenance.

That world isn't hypothetical-it's already here. And without tangible, physical protections, it's only getting worse. Counterfeiting is a $4.5 trillion industry and growing. Millions of fake luxury goods flood the market daily, deceiving customers, devaluing brands, and funding criminal enterprises. But the more significant threat isn't just trading counterfeit handbags and watches-it's the invisible corruption of high-value goods at the supply chain level. When authenticity can't be verified, trust evaporates, and the entire concept of luxury collapses.

Traditional methods-serial numbers, holograms, QR codes-are no longer enough. In a digital era where anything can be copied, altered, or manipulated, brands need a solution that is impossible to forge. SMX provides that solution. By embedding molecular tamper-proof markers directly into fabrics, metals, and high-end components, SMX ensures that every luxury item is unmistakably authentic.

Unlike barcodes or digital certificates that can be hacked, SMX technology, which is blockchain-inclusive, is physically bound to the product itself, making fraud impossible. And not only for apparel, accessories, and jewelry.

The Need for Safe Speed

The high-end automobile industry is also at risk. A Rolls-Royce or Lamborghini is an engineering masterpiece, but what happens when counterfeit parts, particularly computer hardware, infiltrate the supply chain? Performance suffers. Or where a collector's Ferrari has been secretly fitted with counterfeit parts that compromise its precision. Safety is compromised. Value plummets. It doesn't need to.

SMX can ensure that every part-from the carbon fiber body panels to the smallest internal electrical components-can be verified instantly, guaranteeing authenticity and preserving the prestige of the world's finest vehicles. SMX technology ushers that ability and also changes the strategy on where to set defenses.

For decades, industries have poured billions into digital security-firewalls, AI-driven monitoring, encrypted transactions-while ignoring the real battleground: the physical product. The reality is clear-cybersecurity patchwork only fights symptoms, not the disease. The real solution lies in proactive protection at the pre-production level. With that, SMX doesn't just authenticate luxury goods; it fortifies them at the molecular level by creating an incorruptible standard of trust that cannot be bypassed, ensuring that luxury remains genuinely luxurious.

The War on Luxury Is Vicious

Make no mistake-this is not a theoretical threat. The counterfeit market is booming, supply chain infiltration is rampant, and consumer confidence is eroding. Without immediate action, luxury brands risk losing the one thing that makes them valuable- authenticity.

The only way forward is to secure the hardware and materials first. SMX's technology does that. And it's much more than a security feature; it's a virtually impenetrable first line of defense in a war that luxury brands cannot afford to lose.

Sources and references:

• https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/USPTO-Counterfeit.pdf

• https://fox40.com/business/press-releases/cision/20231113LN64772/watchfinder-co-over-23-million-fake-watches-are-circulating-the-us-as-counterfeit-goods-market-continues-to-grow/

• https://smx.tech/about-us

• https://finance.yahoo.com/news/smx-integrates-proprietary-coating-digital-121500526.html

• https://www.gmparts.com/counterfeit-parts#:~:text=If%20it%20appears%20flimsy%2C%20lacks,that%20of%20the%20genuine%20product.

• https://corsearch.com/content-library/blog/the-dark-side-of-luxury-unveiling-the-scale-and-dangers-of-counterfeits/

• https://www.morningstar.com/news/accesswire/959864msn/smx-integrates-its-proprietary-coating-and-digital-platform-technology-for-nfc-rfid-chip-markings-and-protection

About SMX (Security Matters) Public Limited Company

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.

Media contact:

ken@hawkpointmedia.com

SOURCE: SMX (Security Matters) Public Limited

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