European banks launch RL1 regulated blockchain cooperative

On July 28, 2026, ten European financial institutions launched Regulated Layer One (RL1), a member-owned, permissioned blockchain cooperative established as a European Cooperative Society in Luxembourg. The network will host regulated market activity and tokenized assets.

Founding members include ABN AMRO, Cecabank, Chartered Investment, Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale, DekaBank, DZ BANK, LBBW, Natixis CIB, SC Ventures and Seturion. Each founding institution holds equal decision-making rights over the cooperative’s governance and technology development.

The platform is based on infrastructure developed by German fintech Secure Worldwide Interbank Asset Transfer (SWIAT). SWIAT transferred ownership of the live network to the cooperative after three years of production use and reported the platform processed more than 50 transactions with a combined value exceeding €700 million during that period.

Henning Vollbehr, former managing director of SWIAT, will lead RL1. KfW and L-Bank will continue to support the initiative.

The cooperative announced the network will support institutional workflows including digital money, tokenized bonds, collateral management and blockchain-based settlement. RL1 is private and permissioned and not intended for public cryptocurrency trading.

RL1 added a shared ledger can reduce fragmentation when institutions run separate distributed ledgers and help establish common standards for token custody, settlement and collateral flows. The cooperative is in talks with additional institutions, including NatWest, and new members will receive equal governance rights once they join.

The network targets use cases that require regulatory oversight, institutional control and privacy, such as tokenized fixed-income instruments, institutional central bank digital currency integrations, collateral exchanges and post-trade settlement.