MSCI Finalizes Index Rules That Could Remove Strategy and Metaplanet From Benchmarks
Index provider MSCI has adopted new eligibility rules that could push Strategy, the largest publicly traded holder of bitcoin, out of its global equity indexes as soon as next month. The decision, announced on Thursday, October 15, ends a nearly year-long fight over how benchmark builders should treat companies whose main business is holding crypto.
The rules make “non-operating companies,” meaning firms that mostly hold investments rather than run a business, ineligible for the MSCI Global Investable Market Indexes. MSCI will publish its final list of affected companies on November 11, and the changes take effect at the close of November 30 as part of its November index review.
How the new screen works
MSCI’s approach has two steps, according to CoinDesk. The first asks whether a company has substantial operating assets tied to a real business. Companies that fail move to a second test built on five financial ratios covering areas such as expenses, cash flow, changes in asset values and reliance on outside financing. A company flagged on four or more of the five is ruled ineligible.
To limit churn, MSCI built in buffers. A current index member will be removed only if it fails the screen in each of its two most recent annual filing periods, while a company outside the index is blocked from joining if it fails in either of them, The Block reported.
The rules implement a proposal MSCI floated in August with only minor changes. They also end temporary measures MSCI put in place in October 2025 that froze certain index adjustments for companies whose digital assets made up 50% or more of total assets. From the November review onward, those companies will be judged under the new framework instead.
Who is in the firing line
In a simulation using May 2026 data, MSCI flagged three companies for possible deletion from its ACWI Investable Market Index: Strategy, Japan’s Metaplanet and Yellow Cake, a U.K. uranium investment company. According to Cointelegraph, Upexi could also be removed, while SharpLink, Ton Strategy Company, Solana Company and DeFi Development Corp. were placed on a watchlist.
Strategy is the biggest name by far. It holds 848,250 BTC, worth about $69.67 billion according to Bitcoin Treasuries data cited by CoinDesk, and funds much of its buying by selling preferred shares. Index exclusion wouldn’t force Strategy to sell any bitcoin. The pressure would fall on its stock, since funds that track MSCI benchmarks would have to sell their shares.
How large that selling could be is debated. JPMorgan analysts had estimated that excluding Strategy could trigger about $2.8 billion in outflows, although Cointelegraph noted that estimate was made for MSCI’s earlier digital asset proposal rather than the rules adopted Thursday. In August, Strategy said index-tracking funds held about 13 million of its shares, or 3.1% of its basic shares outstanding, and argued that equals less than one day’s trading volume.
Strategy pushes back
Strategy has fought the change for months. Executive Chairman Michael Saylor and CEO Phong Le have called MSCI’s approach “discriminatory” toward digital asset treasury companies. Saylor describes Strategy as an operating business with a software arm that sells business intelligence tools to large corporate clients, with its bitcoin treasury as a separate segment, and rejects comparisons to investment funds.
The company has also played down the financial impact. In a September letter, Strategy said that “if adopted, the proposal would have no meaningful impact on Strategy’s business,” according to The Block. Supporters of the company frame the issue differently. Conner Brown, executive director of the Bitcoin Policy Institute, said in September that removal “removes a company from the default portfolios of tens of millions of people who never chose to remove it.”
Market reaction
Strategy shares closed Thursday’s regular session at $151.29, up from $143.24 the day before, then fell as much as 4.3% in after-hours trading, according to Bitcoin.com News. The stock remains about 72% below its record high of $543 set in November 2024, CoinDesk noted. Metaplanet closed at 277 yen on Friday in Tokyo. Bitcoin itself barely moved, slipping about 0.5% and trading near $82,000 early Friday.
Why it matters
The digital asset treasury model, in which a listed company raises money to buy and hold crypto, spread rapidly over the past two years, and passive index money became an important source of demand for these stocks. MSCI’s decision signals that at least one major benchmark provider will treat companies built mainly around holding an asset more like funds than operating businesses.
The immediate test comes on November 11, when MSCI publishes its final list. That will show whether Strategy and its peers are removed this year or land on a watchlist. Either way, the ruling makes index status a live risk for any company considering a treasury strategy, and it’s likely to shape how these firms describe and structure their businesses going forward.