European Financial Institutions Form Cooperative To Operate Layer 1 Blockchain For Regulated Markets
In Brief
RL1 forms Luxembourg cooperative led by ex-SWIAT chief Vollbehr, uniting ten banks to build a neutral DLT network for regulated financial markets.
Regulated Layer One (RL1), a blockchain initiative targeting the European financial sector, has formally established itself as a European Cooperative Society (SCE) domiciled in Luxembourg, marking a step toward creating a unified, institutional-grade distributed ledger technology (DLT) infrastructure for regulated markets.
The cooperative brings together ten founding financial institutions from across Europe, including ABN AMRO, Cecabank, Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale, DekaBank, DZ BANK, LBBW, Natixis CIB, SC Ventures, Seturion, and Chartered Investment. Additional supporters such as KfW and L-Bank, members since 2025 and 2026 respectively, continue to back the initiative, while discussions with further institutions—including NatWest, an active participant in the project’s first phase—are currently underway.
Henning Vollbehr, previously Managing Director of SWIAT, has been appointed Managing Director of the newly formed SCE. RL1’s network is built upon SWIAT’s production-grade DLT infrastructure, which has operated for three years and facilitated more than 50 transactions exceeding EUR 700 million in total volume. SWIAT’s software remains fully compatible with RL1, enabling immediate deployment of use cases such as bond tokenization, while SWIAT’s BaFin-supervised German electronic securities registries and application ecosystem will transition to run on the RL1 network.
Strategic Context and Governance Framework
The initiative arrives as tokenization evolves from experimental pilots toward scalable market infrastructure. The European Central Bank’s projects, including Appia and Pontes, alongside growing activity in stablecoins, tokenized money market funds, digital bonds, and collateral mobilization solutions, have underscored the need for shared, reliable settlement infrastructure. RL1 positions itself as a direct response to the current fragmentation of blockchain networks within the regulated financial sector, offering a permissioned, interoperable network designed to connect assets, services, and regulated participants across jurisdictions.
Governance constitutes a central feature of the RL1 model. As a cooperative, the network grants equal decision-making rights to all members, ensuring no single institution or node operator can exercise disproportionate control. This structure is designed to foster transparency, collaborative protocol development, and the emergence of common industry standards.
By providing a neutral, member-owned utility for tokenized assets, digital money, and next-generation financial services, RL1 aims to establish a foundational infrastructure layer for institutional digital finance. The cooperative model, combined with proven production technology and broadening institutional participation, suggests the initiative could play a consequential role in shaping Europe’s digital financial market infrastructure in the coming years.
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About The Author
Alisa, a dedicated journalist at the MPost, specializes in crypto, AI, investments, and the expansive realm of Web3. With a keen eye for emerging trends and technologies, she delivers comprehensive coverage to inform and engage readers in the ever-evolving landscape of digital finance.
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Alisa, a dedicated journalist at the MPost, specializes in crypto, AI, investments, and the expansive realm of Web3. With a keen eye for emerging trends and technologies, she delivers comprehensive coverage to inform and engage readers in the ever-evolving landscape of digital finance.
