Ten European financial institutions jointly established the RL1 blockchain cooperative, focusing on tokenized assets.

PANews July 29 news, according to Cointelegraph, ten European financial institutions jointly established the Regulated Layer One (RL1) blockchain cooperative, providing infrastructure for regulated financial markets and tokenized assets. Founding members include ING Group, Spain’s Cecabank, France’s Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale, Germany’s DekaBank, DZ BANK, LBBW, France’s Natixis CIB, SC Ventures of Standard Chartered Bank, and Seturion, among others.

RL1 is a European cooperative registered in Luxembourg, with each member granted equal power in governance decision-making. The permissioned private chain is built on infrastructure developed by the German fintech SWIAT, which has transferred ownership of the entire network to the cooperative. RL1 aims to support institutional use cases such as digital currencies, tokenized bonds, collateral, and blockchain settlement, reducing fragmentation caused by financial institutions independently running their own distributed ledger systems. Former SWIAT managing director Henning Vollbehr will lead RL1. Germany’s KfW, and L-Bank will continue to support the initiative, and RL1 is in discussions with institutions such as NatWest about joining.