Bison Trails offers tools for the Libra blockchain

Blockchain infrastructure-as-a-service firm Bison Trail has announced the launch of its Libra Query and Transaction Clusters (QT) tools.

According to an announcement shared with Modern Consensus, Bison Trails said its Libra QT product allows developers to read and write on the blockchain hosting the Facebook-founded Libra stablecoin.

“Developers can use Bison Trails’ Libra QT to build wallets, exchanges, and other virtual asset services on Libra’s pre-mainnet… Libra QT also enables payment processing, transaction validations, and specialized use cases like smart contract authoring and market-making.”

Libra support by Bison Trails is unsurprising given that the firm is one of the founding members of the Libra Association. Libra QT is meant to allow Libra Designated Dealers and virtual asset service providers (VASP)—the term international regulators prefer to describe exchanges, custodians and financial advisors to token sales—the time to prepare for the main network’s launch. The company said:

“Customers building with Libra QT can easily transition to mainnet at launch, and be ready on day one.”

It is worth noting that Libra’s launch is not just a question of time—it is still unclear whether the stablecoin will see the light of day at all. 

As Modern Consensus reported in mid-September, some of Europe’s biggest economies want Facebook’s stablecoin project to be based in the EU—not in Switzerland—or be banned. And on Oct. 13, a leaked G7 report said the powerful organization of leaders and central bankers of the seven largest economies wanted Libra halted until international regulations governing global stablecoins are in place—which would take at least two years.

The stablecoin’s governing body, the Libra Association, is working hard to win over regulators and be able to launch its stablecoin, often hiring people from traditional finance in the project. In October, the organization announced that former HSBC and Credit Suisse banker Ian Jenkins had taken on the dual role of CFO and chief risk officer at the global stablecoin’s governing body.

And on Nov. 25, the Libra Association announced that it had hired Saumya Bhavsar as General Counsel of its Libra Networks. Noting that she has held “roles within top U.S. and EU banks and regulatory agencies,” the release called her “a skilled industry leader with experience shaping and managing global and regional financial services organizations through periods of significant strategic change.”

Most recently she was managing director, global head of regulatory affairs and group head of the data protection office at Credit Suisse.

If the Libra Association does manage to launch its network, then “designated dealers and VASPs who care about transaction speed, availability, and resiliency will require dedicated access” such as Bison Trail’s Libra QT, the company said. This is because the association plans to provide free public gateways for its blockchain, but those will be limited in ways that make them unsuitable for enterprise applications.