M2i Global, Inc. along with Volato Group, Inc. announced that it has entered into a Strategic Collaboration Agreement with SMX (Security Matters) PLC (SMX), a publicly traded company focused on supply chain traceability and integrity solutions. The Collaboration Agreement establishes a structured collaboration between the parties to support a pilot initiative involving (i) the application of physical and digital shipment-assurance technologies and (ii) digital traceability, custody, and commercialization workflows via the M2i CAINO digital backbone and the M2i Metals Marketplace. The intent is to focus on enabling a new standard for trusted critical mineral commerce, connecting physical shipment assurance to evidence-backed digital custody records and authenticated marketplace transactions.

Through this collaboration, M2i and SMX will support a pilot initiative to demonstrate howied-source mineral shipments can be verified, tracked, and commercialized with integrity from origin to U.S. receipt. Under the Agreement, M2i and SM X intend to pursue a phased operational program designed to prove end-to-end integrity of critical mineral shipments including custody assurance, physical integrity controls, and digital evidence capture at key custody events, culminating in marketplace-ready authenticated lots. The pilot initiative supports M2i's Critical Mineral Reserve (CMR) operating framework, including: Tracking, traceability, and assurance; Custody, storage, and logistics readiness; Authenticated listing and transaction execution; Partner and governance coordination.

As an initial operational demonstration of the collaboration, M2i plans to execute a phased pilot shipment program beginning with controlled materials movements from Western Australia into the United States. This pilot is designed to validate the collaboration's traceability and commerce integration under real-world conditions. The pilot is expected to incorporate layered shipment assurance methods including physical tagging and instrumentation, tamper-evident controls, and verification evidence capture at key custody events.

The objective is to demonstrate a practical framework for reducing provenance dilution, commingling risk, and chain-of-custody ambiguity, addressing the core failure modes that undermine trusted mineral supply. CAINO Digital Backbone Enables Evidence-Grade Chain-of-Custody. The collaboration will leverage M2i's digital backbone for custody, authentication, integrity, and network operations (CAINO).

CAINO provides a serialized digital record for each material lot and shipment, enabling: Custody event logging and permissioned updates; Evidence capture and audit-ready traceability; Linkage of assays /certificates of analysis (COAs) to lot identity; Marketplace-ready documentation for authenticated sale; By binding physical shipment assurance evidence into CAINO, M2i and SMx intend to demonstrate a repeatable model for trusted material onboarding into authenticated commerce workflows. The M2i?SMX collaboration is designed to provide a scalable foundation for trusted materials commerce across allied supply chains, supporting broader objectives for resilient sourcing and traceable industrial inputs. M2i expects additional technology and logistics participants may join as and if the pilot expands.