Image Credit: Shutterstock
Ten European financial institutions have launched Regulated Layer One, a jointly owned blockchain network built for tokenized assets, digital money and regulated capital markets.
RL1 has begun operating as a European Cooperative Society based in Luxembourg. The network is based on SWIAT’s production-grade DLT infrastructure, which is now owned by the cooperative.
Ten Founding Institutions Receive Equal Governance Rights
The founding members are ABN AMRO, Cecabank, Chartered Investment, Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale, DekaBank, DZ BANK, LBBW, Natixis CIB, SC Ventures and Seturion. Each institution receives equal decision-making rights over RL1’s governance and development.
The cooperative structure is intended to prevent one bank, technology provider or group of validators from controlling the network. Former SWIAT managing director Henning Vollbehr will lead RL1 as managing director.
KfW and L-Bank Continue Supporting RL1
German development banks KfW and L-Bank will continue supporting the initiative. Discussions are also underway with other financial institutions about joining.
NatWest, which participated during RL1’s development phase, is expected to join the cooperative separately. RL1 says the network remains open to further regulated financial-market participants.
SWIAT Network Brings More Than €700M in Transaction History
RL1 is built on the permissioned blockchain infrastructure developed by SWIAT, which has operated in production for about three years. The underlying network has processed more than 50 transactions worth over €700 million.
SWIAT will remain a technology and service provider after the infrastructure moves under cooperative ownership. Existing applications can continue using SWIAT-compatible technology, allowing institutions to deploy tokenized securities without rebuilding their systems for the new ownership structure.
Permissioned Network Targets Regulated Financial Institutions
RL1 is permissioned rather than public. Access and operations are structured around regulated financial institutions and existing compliance requirements.
The design gives banks and market-infrastructure providers a shared ledger while keeping governance inside a regulated institutional framework.
That structure is meant to support capital-market use cases where identity, settlement finality and compliance controls are central.
RL1 Will Support Bonds, Digital Money and On-Chain Collateral
RL1 is intended to support digital bonds, tokenized funds and real-world assets, stablecoins, on-chain collateral, securities lending and blockchain-based settlement. It can also provide infrastructure for central and commercial bank money, giving financial institutions a shared ledger for assets and the cash used to settle them.
The cooperative is targeting fragmentation across Europe, where banks and market-infrastructure providers have often developed separate blockchain platforms that cannot easily transact with one another.
Its next phase will focus on adding participants and moving more tokenized capital-market activity onto the shared network.
