Europe’s 10 Major Banks Launch RL1 Blockchain to Power $808M+ Tokenized Finance Network

Key Takeaways:

• RL1 officially opened with the 10 European financial Institutions as founding members.
• The blockchain network targets tokenized assets and regulated digital finance.
• RL1 uses infrastructure that has already handled more than €700m in transactions.

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Regulated Layer One (RL1) has just officially launched, marking another significant milestone in Europe’s journey towards full institutional blockchain adoption. The new scheme unites some of the largest financial institutions and banks in the region under a singular blockchain network for the regulated financial sector.

RL1 opened its doors as a European Cooperative Society (SCE) with headquarters in Luxembourg on July 28. Cooperative’s initial membership comprises ABN AMRO, DekaBank, DZ BANK, Chartered Investment, Cecabank, Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale, LBBW, Natixis CIB, SC Ventures and Seturion.

RL1 features cooperative governance, as opposed to privately controlled blockchain networks. Each member is given an equal vote; participating institutions can participate in network development and share the infrastructure while having input on development.

In the regulated financial sector in Europe, Henning Vollbehr, former SWIAT Managing Director, will head up the expansion of the network for the Managing Director of RL1.

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RL1 isn’t a brand-new approach. The blockchain is based on SWIAT’s distributed ledger technology to power blockchain, which has been developed and working in real production for about three years.

According to the project, the underlying infrastructure has completed more than 50 institutional transactions with a combined value exceeding €700 million (around $808 million).

The platform seamlessly integrates with SWIAT’s current apps, enabling financial institutions to launch tokenized bonds, regulated digital securities registries, and other financial services using blockchain without having to rebuild their technology.

The cooperative will also expand its institutional offerings such as tokenized money, digital currency bonds, collateral management, smart derivatives and next generation settlement services.

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One of the biggest pain points of institutional blockchain adoption and adoption is disorganized infrastructure, which is what RL1 tackles. Rather than having to develop and maintain their own permissioned ledger, banks can use a shared one that allows regulated users to conduct transactions over the same network and across compliance and business-as usual requirements.

As European tokenization efforts continue to move forward, the launch is particularly timely. The European Central bank’s initiatives, along with the growing use of stablecoins, tokenized money market funds and digital securities, have led to heightened demand for interoperable blockchain infrastructure which can accommodate regulated financial institutions.

RL1 said the network remains open to additional financial institutions, with discussions already underway involving several European banks, including NatWest. Meanwhile, development banks KfW and L-Bank will continue supporting the initiative during its next phase of expansion.

RL1’s ultimate goal is to offer a shared blockchain environment where Europe’s financial sector as a whole can transition from individual pilot projects to high-volume, blockchain-based financial assetization.

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