Summary
RL1 (Regulated Layer One) is a jointly owned blockchain network launched by 10 European banks as a European Cooperative Society (SCE) domiciled in Luxembourg. It inherits €700M+ in production transaction volume from SWIAT and is deliberately positioned alongside the ECB's Pontes initiative, which will enable tokenized transactions to settle directly in central bank money.
Key Points
- Governance: European Cooperative Society (SCE) — each founding member has an equal vote. No single institution can dominate. Structure: general assembly, supervisory board, operational management board.
- Founding members: ABN AMRO (Netherlands), DekaBank, DZ BANK, LBBW (Germany), Natixis CIB, Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale (France), Cecabank (Spain), SC Ventures, Chartered Investment, Seturion. NatWest "joining soon."
- Infrastructure: Inherited from SWIAT (Frankfurt-based fintech). 3 years production, 50+ transactions, €700M+. SWIAT continues as software supplier and technical operator.
- Target workflows: Digital bond issuance, tokenized RWAs, onchain collateral mobilization, bank-issued stablecoins, repo and derivatives margining.
- ECB alignment: Pontes initiative (Q3 2026) connects market-side DLT platforms with Eurosystem's TARGET Services for central bank money settlement. Appia program extends further. RL1 is designed to plug into both.
- KfW test case: German state-owned development bank issued €100M blockchain bond in June. Plans autumn migration of registrar/ledger from Cashlink/Polygon to DekaBank and SWIAT/RL1. Plans to connect payments through Pontes.
- Strategic significance: Europe has seen dozens of isolated tokenization pilots. RL1 attempts a different kind of coordination — not a merger or platform play, but a cooperative where no member can walk away with the network. If Pontes lands on schedule, the combination could give European capital markets a shared settlement layer that currently does not exist.