Heifer International Joins Libra Association to ‘Support Financial Inclusion’

Global nonprofit Heifer International is joining the Libra Association, it announced Monday, becoming the 23rd official member of the organization.

The group joined Libra to facilitate the creation of a low-cost, accessible financial system, it said in a blog post, noting that Libra’s stated mission is to build a system that “will support financial inclusion, competition, and responsible financial services innovation.”

Charity Navigator gives Heifer three out of four stars, with a score of 97/100 for accountability and transparency.

“At Heifer International, we work with some of the world’s poorest farmers, helping them to sustainably increase production and access new markets — increasing their sales and incomes. As farmers grow their businesses, one of the major challenges they face is access to credit,” it said in the blog post.

Heifer CEO and president Pierre Ferrari said in a tweet that “Farmers who use local money lenders face high interest rates & loans that can be impossible to pay off, preventing them from building sustainable livelihoods.”

In a tweet, Libra Association head of policy and communications Dante Disparte said he was pleased to welcome the group, adding that it “has worked to end hunger and poverty” for more than 75 years.

The news came just days after the association revamped its original vision of the stablecoin project, making major concessions to regulators concerned about the impact of libra on global stability and monetary sovereignty. Specifically, libra is now going to be a series of stablecoins, each backed by a single currency and cash equivalents.

The group is looking at issuing stablecoins backed by the dollar, the euro, the British Pound and the Singapore Dollar, as some examples.

Libra still plans to issue a stablecoin backed by a basket of currencies, as it originally envisioned, but this will now be backed by the new stablecoins it issues.

Still, it’s unclear whether Libra’s revamp will convince lawmakers. At least one, Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas) has already said its changes are “insufficient” in her eyes. Garcia has previously introduced the “Managed Stablecoins are Securities Act,” which would classify libra as a security if it is passed and signed into law.