Summary
Ten European banks have launched RL1 (Regulated Layer One), a jointly owned blockchain network structured as a European Cooperative Society domiciled in Luxembourg. The network inherits infrastructure from SWIAT, which processed more than 50 transactions worth over €700 million across three years of production before ownership transferred to the cooperative.
Founding members span Germany, the Netherlands, France, and Spain: ABN AMRO, DekaBank, DZ BANK, Natixis CIB, LBBW, Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale, Cecabank, SC Ventures, Chartered Investment, and Seturion. NatWest is listed as "joining soon."
Key Facts
- Governance: European Cooperative Society (SCE), each member has equal vote
- Infrastructure: inherited from SWIAT (Frankfurt-based fintech); 3 years production, 50+ transactions, €700M+
- SWIAT continues as software supplier and technical operator
- Henning Vollbehr (former SWIAT managing director) leads the cooperative
- Target workflows: digital bond issuance, tokenized RWAs, onchain collateral mobilization, bank-issued stablecoins, repo and derivatives margining
- Aligns with ECB's Pontes initiative (Q3 2026) for settling tokenized transactions in central bank money
- KfW plans autumn migration of its €100M blockchain bond from Cashlink/Polygon to DekaBank and SWIAT/RL1
- BaFin-supervised electronic securities registries from SWIAT planned to migrate to RL1
Why It Matters
RL1 represents a different approach to financial blockchain infrastructure: not a startup, not a public chain, but a cooperative where no single institution can dominate. The deliberate alignment with ECB's Pontes and Appia initiatives means RL1 transactions could eventually settle in central bank money — the safest form of settlement. If successful, RL1 could give European capital markets a shared settlement layer that currently does not exist in any coherent form, challenging the dollar-denominated stablecoin default for onchain finance.