Ten European Institutions Launch RL1 Tokenized Asset Blockchain Cooperative
Ten European financial institutions, including ABN AMRO, DekaBank, and Natixis CIB, have launched RL1, a member-owned blockchain cooperative focused on tokenized assets and regulated markets.
The network was established and began operations in Luxembourg as a European cooperative, with equal governance rights for all members. Based on the permissioned chain infrastructure developed by SWIAT, it has processed over 50 transactions worth more than 700 million euros, supporting digital currencies, tokenized bonds, collateral, and blockchain settlement.
The event-driven collaboration among European institutions aims to build a shared regulated ledger, with funding and technical resources flowing into a member-owned infrastructure. Participating institutions benefit from reduced fragmentation and compliance interoperability, while independent operators of distributed ledgers face pressure.
Source: Public Information
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Several European banks and financial institutions have recently piloted tokenized bonds and settlements through permissioned chains like SWIAT, now transferring ownership of the production network to a member-owned European cooperative to ensure neutral governance and regulatory compliance, with former SWIAT executives taking leadership to continue operations.
On the capital front, institutions jointly own the network with equal contributions and voting rights, motivated to avoid fragmentation caused by a single bank's dominance, while converting validated transaction volumes into shared infrastructure, concentrating resources on the full lifecycle support of digital currencies and tokenized assets.
Similar to the early SWIFT as a shared communication standard for banks or the integration path of European payment systems, the current phase is transitioning institutional blockchains from pilots to shared public utilities.
This essentially represents a restructuring of the industry chain: tokenized asset settlements are shifting from individually built chains to a member-owned permissioned layer, as equal governance and regulatory optimization reduce inter-institutional interoperability costs, thereby redistributing control of European digital financial infrastructure.
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- Shared ledgers are more efficient than individually built chains.
- Equal governance is the foundation of trust in institutional cooperation.
- Regulatory-friendly infrastructure will ultimately prevail over technical gimmicks.