Ten European financial institutions have joined forces to launch the Regulated Layer One (RL1) initiative, which aims to establish a common distributed ledger under open and credible governance for regulated market participants. The RL1 project builds on the SWIAT NET technology and its contractual framework, which has already been in production for over two years and completed more than 40 transactions with volumes exceeding EUR 600 million.
The initiative is structured so that RL1 will be jointly owned, operated, and governed by participating European financial institutions. The SWIAT DLT network will transition into a new cooperative structure, giving financial institutions direct ownership and control of the infrastructure. SWIAT GmbH will continue as the software supplier and service provider for RL1 to ensure operational support.
RL1 is intended to become a pan-European blockchain platform for digital assets and payments. It supports various use cases including native digital assets, tokenized traditional assets, different settlement options, and cash-on-chain solutions. The governance model being developed for RL1 aims to prevent any single partner or group from exercising undue control over the network.
The ten initial supporters of the RL1 initiative are ABN AMRO, DekaBank, DZ BANK, KfW, LBBW, Natixis Corporate and Investment Banking, NatWest, Seturion (Boerse Stuttgart Group), SC Ventures (Standard Chartered Bank), and V-BANK. These institutions have agreed to finance the preparatory work equally and mandated SWIAT to manage implementation and coordination.
A key feature of RL1 is its focus on providing a secure and permissioned environment for deploying distributed ledger technology use cases. Unlike commercial platforms designed primarily for revenue generation, RL1 is conceived as common infrastructure operated for its members' benefit. This approach seeks to create true interoperability among issuers, investors, infrastructure providers, marketplaces, trading counterparties, and cash solution providers sharing a common set of rules.
Dr. Timo Reinschmidt, Co-CEO and CCO of SWIAT GmbH stated: “Regulated Layer One is a great example how privately lead initiatives can support the digital transformation towards a unified and shared infrastructure supporting the financial sector. The positive feedback from European private and public sector stakeholders has proven the need for a common DLT infrastructure owned by market participants. With its European cooperative design and its commitment to neutrality, RL1 avoids the pitfalls of siloed or rent-seeking models and instead acts as enabling infrastructure for the benefit of Europe’s financial ecosystem. I am delighted that ten financial institutions have already committed to support the launch of RL1. The journey, though, does not stop there; as we are actively engaged in discussions with additional market participants who have expressed strong interest in joining the initiative.”
Among those participating is Germany's promotional bank KfW. Stefan Wintels, CEO of KfW commented: “We are very pleased to be part of the RL1 initiative and to make an important contribution to the further development of the DLT-based capital market. RL1 has the potential to elevate the European DLT infrastructure to a new technological level and to create a unifying framework. In this regard, interoperability is strengthened, crucial for driving scalability of this technology. Through our commitment to RL1, we continue our digital learning journey and will share our experience with other market participants.”
Martin Müller from DekaBank said: “The accelerating transformation of Europe’s financial sector, driven by digitalization and regulatory innovation, places unprecedented demands on all industry leaders. In this context, ensuring Europe’s digital sovereignty—while remaining open, competitive, and resilient—requires collective action and visionary industry leadership. Our objective is clear: to position RL1 as a central pillar of the future European financial ecosystem, fully aligned with the ambitions of the ECB’s Appia track and the European Savings and Investment Union. The support of the ten first market participants demonstrates this collaborative leadership and I am convinced that we can secure the support of many more market participants from the private and public sector.”
SWIAT GmbH was founded in Frankfurt in 2022 as a fintech company focused on blockchain software development for decentralized financial markets infrastructure. By 2025 it had onboarded over 40 participants onto its blockchain platform with settled securities worth more than EUR 600 million.