A group of major European financial institutions has launched Regulated Layer One (RL1), a jointly governed blockchain network designed to support the issuance and settlement of digital financial instruments across regulated markets.
RL1 has been created as a European Cooperative Society and is built on technology from SWIAT, a Frankfurt‑based fintech that develops permissioned blockchain infrastructure for banks.
SWIAT’s system is used for issuing, settling and managing tokenised securities, digital money and collateral, and has processed more than 50 transactions totalling €700m over the past three years.
Henning Vollbehr, Managing Director of RL1, said the cooperative was designed to give institutions a shared foundation for digital‑asset markets.
“With RL1, leading European financial institutions are coming together to overcome the fragmentation of blockchain networks in the regulated sector and to create a common, trust‑based foundation for digital assets and next‑generation financial markets,” he said.
The network aims to provide shared governance, interoperability and a neutral environment for tokenised assets, digital money, smart derivatives and collateral mobility. SWIAT said discussions with additional institutions, including UK‑based NatWest, are ongoing.
Ten institutions are joining the cooperative at launch. They include ABN AMRO in the Netherlands; German banks DekaBank, DZ BANK and LBBW; France’s Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking and Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale; Spain’s Cecabank; France’s Chartered Investment; SC Ventures, the innovation arm of Standard Chartered; and Seturion, part of Börse Stuttgart Group. German promotional banks KfW and L‑Bank continue to support the initiative.
RL1’s launch aligns with wider European efforts to build digital market infrastructure, including the European Central Bank’s Appia and Pontes programmes, which focus on settlement and interoperability for tokenised financial instruments.
