Facebook is the underdog as Libra scepticism mounts

This may come as no surprise, depending on where you stand on Facebook (FB), but close to every payment firm that initially agreed to join their cryptocurrency, Libra, has backed out. Blame it on Warren’s warpath, increased regulatory scrutiny, or bad timing, but Libra is looking rather...uh, unbalanced.

Peace out!

Last Friday, Visa and Mastercard said they were leaving the Libra Association, joining turncoats like Latin American Mercado Pago, Stripe, eBay (EBAY) and PayPal (PYPL). When announced in June 2019, the Libra association was made up of around 30 founding companies who had to contribute a minimum of $10m each. The social media behemoth is also facing international legislative scrutiny over the currency – as well as its regular privacy and ethical issues. Banks aren’t banking on it to work either. The Bank of England said Facebook would have to meet the central bank’s highest standards before it would be able to launch in Britain.

Thanks, but we’ll pass on unregulated currencies

Libra was pitched as the potential foundation for a new financial system that would be independent of Wall Street or big banks. In theory, it’s beautiful: the cryptocurrency will be freely traded inside Facebook’s properties (Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp), and can be used for international currency exchange, but world leaders remain unimpressed. Even Trump is against it! Later this month, Mark Zuckerberg is scheduled to testify at a congressional hearing about his company’s crypto aspirations, so we'll be watching closely. The last time he testified before Congress was in April 2018, when lawmakers wanted answers about the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal. Zuckerberg’s performance will be vital to Libra’s future and could determine whether the Libra Association remains intact, or whether it collapses under lawmakers’ pressure. Wonder what his horoscope says? P.S. He’s a Taurus, which means he won’t back down easily!

Oh Lordy! What should I invest my money in?

No matter what your values are, you can find companies to invest in on the share markets that won’t mess with your belief system. Inspire Investing is taking this “value” investing approach one step further this week by rolling out its fifth exchange-traded fund that invests in companies that operate in a biblically responsible way. Praise be!

You won’t find sin stocks here!

The new Inspire International ESG ETF will track an index composed of 150 companies that are “the most inspiring, biblically aligned large-cap companies outside of the United States.” If you haven’t heard of them, Inspire Investing is a Californian firm that exists to create investment opportunities that adhere to the rules of the Bible. Portfolio holdings are screened through a rules-based system using AI that parses millions of data points to find biblically aligned companies. Companies involved with abortion, pornography, human rights violations, alcohol, tobacco, gambling, and sadly LGBT rights are excluded from all five Inspire ETFs. There’s a market for this faith-based strategy: these funds have gathered a $439 million in assets. That’s no miracle, and Wall Street is perching at the pew.

Buy and hold on hope

Want God as your co-pilot when it comes to investing? Hatch might be the answer to your prayers. We carry four of Inspire’s biblically focussed ETFs: 

• Inspire Global Hope ETF (BLES) - invests in U.S. and international companies with market caps of at least $5 billion.

• 100 ETF (BIBL) holds U.S.-listed companies with market caps over $20 billion. 

• Inspire Small/Mid Cap Impact ETF (ISMD) invests in U.S equities.

• Corporate Bond Impact ETF (IBD) focuses on U.S. investment-grade bonds.

In just under three years, Inspire's biblical ETFs have gained them recognition as #8 in percentage growth in assets from 2017-2018 out of 683 firms, according to Financial Advisor Magazine's "RIA Survey and Ranking 2019". The firm also practices what it preaches: Inspire donates 50% of profits generated from management fees to support projects around the globe, like adopting villages in the coffee farming mountains of Guatemala to provide clean water, improved education, and a fully functional medical clinic. Amen to that.

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