Ten Major Banks Launch ‘Regulated Layer One’ (RL1) Blockchain! 🏦🇪🇺

​While the crypto market chases meme coins and public airdrops, traditional finance has just flipped the switch on a massive, institutional-grade blockchain. A consortium of ten heavy-hitting European financial institutions has officially launched Regulated Layer One (RL1) a completely private, permissioned network built specifically for the multi-trillion-dollar regulated capital markets.

​🏛️ The Cooperative Model
​RL1 isn't owned by a tech company or a venture capital firm. It is officially registered in Luxembourg as a Société Coopérative Européenne (SCE) a European Cooperative Society.

​The Heavyweight Founders: The ten founding institutions read like a who's who of European finance, including ABN AMRO, Cecabank, Chartered Investment, Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale, DekaBank, DZ BANK, LBBW, Natixis CIB, SC Ventures, and Seturion.

​Equal Governance: To prevent a monopoly, RL1 was deliberately structured so that every single member institution has an equal vote in the network’s governance and ongoing development.

​⚙️ The Tech Proven in Production
​While the cooperative is new, the technology powering RL1 is not an untested experiment.

​The entire network infrastructure was originally built by Secure Worldwide Interbank Asset Transfer (SWIAT), a German fintech company. SWIAT has now completely handed over ownership of the network to the new cooperative.

​ Before this handover, the SWIAT platform spent three years in live production. During that time, it successfully processed over 50 transactions, representing a total value of more than 700 million euros (roughly $808 million).

​💼 What Will RL1 Actually Do?
​Before you ask, no, there is no public token, and there won't be an airdrop. This network is strictly designed for institutional use cases, such as:
​Issuing and managing tokenized bonds and digital money.
​Automating collateral management and margin calls across different institutions.
​Facilitating instant, blockchain-based settlement (atomic delivery-versus-payment).
​The ultimate goal of RL1 is to stop fragmentation. Right now, different banks are building isolated distributed ledgers. By uniting under one shared, neutral network, these institutions can finally interoperate globally.
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Under the leadership of former SWIAT Managing Director Henning Vollbehr, RL1 is already looking to expand. With giants like KfW and L-Bank supporting the project, and NatWest currently in discussions to join, RL1 is positioning itself as the foundational plumbing for Europe’s tokenized financial future.