RL1 Blockchain Cooperative Launched by Ten European Financial Institutions
Ten leading European banks have launched Regulated Layer One (RL1), a permissioned blockchain cooperative designed for regulated capital markets and tokenized assets. RL1 was incorporated as a European Cooperative Society in Luxembourg and began operations with ten founding members, including ABN AMRO, DekaBank, DZ BANK, LBBW, Natixis CIB, Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale, Cecabank, Chartered Investment, SC Ventures and Seturion.
Governance of the network gives each founding institution equal decision‑making rights. The cooperative builds on technology originally created by German fintech Secure Worldwide Interbank Asset Transfer (SWIAT), which has transferred ownership of the platform to the cooperative. SWIAT reported that the underlying platform processed more than 50 transactions worth over €700 million during three years of production use.
RL1 aims to provide shared infrastructure for institutional applications such as digital money, tokenized bonds, collateral management and blockchain‑based settlement, reducing fragmentation among separate distributed‑ledger systems. Former SWIAT Managing Director Henning Vollbehr has been appointed managing director of RL1, and the network is in discussions with additional banks, including NatWest, to expand membership.
Entities: ABN AMRO · DekaBank · Henning Vollbehr · Regulated Layer One (RL1) · Secure Worldwide Interbank Asset Transfer (SWIAT)
Claims
What the coverage asserts, and how well corroborated each claim is across sources.
- [● 3 SOURCES] Ten European financial institutions are founding members of RL1, including ABN AMRO, DekaBank, Natixis CIB and others. (All three articles list the ten founding members.)
- [● 3 SOURCES] Former SWIAT Managing Director Henning Vollbehr is the managing director of RL1. (All three articles name Vollbehr as RL1’s managing director.)
- [● 3 SOURCES] RL1 is in discussions with additional banks, including NatWest, to join the network. (All three articles mention ongoing talks with NatWest.)
- [● 3 SOURCES] RL1 was incorporated as a European Cooperative Society in Luxembourg. (All three articles state the cooperative was established in Luxembourg.)
- [● 3 SOURCES] The SWIAT platform processed more than 50 transactions worth over €700 million during three years of production use. (All three articles give this performance figure.)
- [● 3 SOURCES] RL1 aims to support tokenized assets such as digital money, tokenized bonds, collateral and settlement. (All three articles list these intended use cases.)
- [● 3 SOURCES] Each founding member has equal decision‑making rights in RL1 governance. (All three articles note equal decision rights for members.)
- [● 3 SOURCES] RL1 is built on infrastructure developed by SWIAT, which transferred ownership to the cooperative. (All three articles describe SWIAT’s role and the transfer of ownership.)