Regulated Layer One (RL1), a distributed ledger technology (DLT) network developed for regulated financial markets, has formed a European Cooperative Society (SCE) based in Luxembourg. The structure brings together ten European financial institutions as founding members and is designed to establish a member-owned, pan-European DLT utility for tokenised assets, digital money, and related financial market use cases.
Henning Vollbehr has been appointed Managing Director of the SCE. Vollbehr previously served as Managing Director of SWIAT, the DLT infrastructure on which the RL1 network is based.
Founding members and governance structure
The RL1 Cooperative comprises ABN AMRO, Cecabank, Chartered Investment, Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale, DekaBank, DZ BANK, LBBW, Natixis CIB, SC Ventures, and Seturion. KfW and L-Bank, which joined the initiative in 2025 and 2026 respectively, will continue to support RL1's establishment and expansion. Discussions are also under way with additional European banks regarding participation, including NatWest, which took part in Phase 1 of the initiative.
Under the cooperative structure, all RL1 members hold equal decision-making rights and influence over the network's development, alongside direct access to the shared infrastructure at an institutional level.
Technology base and track record
The RL1 network runs on the DLT infrastructure previously developed by SWIAT, which the cooperative now owns. That infrastructure has been in production for three years and has processed more than 50 transactions with a combined volume exceeding EUR 700 million. SWIAT's existing software is compatible with RL1, allowing use cases such as bond tokenisation to run on the network without modification.
SWIAT's existing application ecosystem, including its BaFin-supervised German electronic securities registries, will remain with SWIAT but is set to transition to operate on RL1. The intention behind the shared governance model is for members to jointly develop digital solutions and transparent protocols on common infrastructure, contributing to the establishment of shared industry standards.
Addressing infrastructure fragmentation
RL1 has been positioned as a response to the fragmentation of DLT networks across the regulated financial sector, offering a permissioned, interoperable infrastructure intended to connect assets, services, and access points between institutions in line with their IT compliance requirements.
The initiative follows a broader shift in which tokenisation projects have moved from pilot stage towards scalable market infrastructure. Related developments cited include the European Central Bank's Appia and Pontes initiatives, as well as growing activity around stablecoins, tokenised money market funds, digital bonds, smart derivatives, collateral mobilisation solutions, and settlement platforms, all of which depend on shared infrastructure to reduce fragmentation and support settlement efficiency.
Vollbehr said the cooperative structure reflects the collective work of participating institutions and the continued development of SWIAT over the past four years, adding that RL1 is intended to support the transition from isolated tokenisation projects towards an integrated capital market infrastructure.
