Ten European financial institutions have formally launched RL1, or Regulated Layer One, as a blockchain cooperative in Luxembourg, setting up a European cooperative company to build shared infrastructure for regulated financial markets and tokenized assets under a jointly governed model.
Founding members hold equal governance rights
According to an official RL1 announcement, the 10 founding members are ABN AMRO from the Netherlands; DekaBank, Natixis CIB, Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale and Cecabank from France; DZ BANK and LBBW from Germany; and investment firms Chartered Investment, SC Ventures and Seturion.
RL1 said each member has equal decision-making rights in network governance and development.
Infrastructure came from SWIAT
The infrastructure behind RL1 originated from German fintech company Secure Worldwide Interbank Asset Transfer, or SWIAT. SWIAT has now transferred ownership of the network to the cooperative.
SWIAT said the platform has processed more than 50 transactions in a production environment over three years, with a total value exceeding €700 million, or about $808 million.
Private permissioned network for institutions
RL1 is a private, permissioned network designed for institutional use. Its stated applications include digital money, tokenized bonds, collateral and blockchain settlement.
Targeting fragmentation from separate ledger systems
RL1 said a shared network can reduce fragmentation created when financial institutions each run their own distributed ledger systems.
Former SWIAT managing director Henning Vollbehr will lead RL1. German development bank KfW and L-Bank will continue to support the project.
RL1 is also in discussions with additional institutions, including NatWest, about joining the network.
The report said this model stands in contrast to the route taken by technology companies such as Circle and Stripe, which have pursued self-built Layer 1 blockchains. RL1 is structured as a cooperative built and used jointly by multiple peers rather than being led by a single company.