MSCI adopts index rules that could drop bitcoin treasury firms

MSCI finalized new index rules on Thursday that could push Strategy and other bitcoin treasury companies out of its global stock benchmarks. The firm will name the affected companies on November 11, and any removals take effect after the close on November 30.

The decision went up on MSCI's website, adopting a methodology the index provider first proposed in August, according to reporting by The Block and Cointelegraph. It replaces an earlier, interim approach that singled out firms whose digital asset holdings made up at least half of their total assets.

In January, MSCI dropped a narrower, crypto-specific version of the plan, then reopened the question in August with the broader non-operating-company framework it has now adopted. Comment ran through the end of September. The new screen is not aimed only at crypto, which is why a uranium fund turned up on the same flagged list.

How the new screen works

MSCI's test runs in two stages. First it checks whether a company's operating assets make up more than half of its total assets. A firm that clears that line stays eligible. One that falls below it faces a second screen of five financial ratios, and failing at least four of the five marks the company as a non-operating business, which is not eligible for the MSCI Global Investable Market Indexes.

Current index members get a cushion. A company already in a benchmark is only removed after it fails the screen in two straight annual reporting periods, and MSCI said it may also look at the most recent interim filing. That buffer is meant to hold down the trading churn a sudden deletion can cause. The approach grew out of the same debate that put the question of whether a bitcoin treasury company really counts as an operating business on the table.

Which companies are in the crosshairs

A May 2026 simulation run on the proposed rules would have dropped Strategy (MSTR), Japan's Metaplanet and the uranium holder Yellow Cake from the MSCI ACWI IMI, one of the provider's broadest indexes. MSCI had earlier flagged Strategy, Metaplanet and Upexi for possible deletion.

Several Ethereum and other treasury plays sit on a watchlist for later review, among them SharpLink (SBET), Ton Strategy Company (TONX), the Solana Company (HSDT) and DeFi Development Corp (DFDV). Which of them lands on the November 11 list is not yet known. Not even MSCI has said.

Billions in potential selling, and a fight over fairness

The worry is forced selling. Funds that track an index have to own what the index holds, so a deletion can push passive managers to sell the stock. JPMorgan analysts estimated earlier this year that removing Strategy could trigger about $2.8 billion in selling, though that figure was tied to MSCI's earlier proposal rather than Thursday's rules.

Strategy has pushed back hard. Executive Chairman Michael Saylor and Chief Executive Phong Le called the plan discriminatory earlier in 2026, and a September letter from the company argued the move would do no real damage to its business but would dent MSCI's reputation. Strategy also said funds tracking the indexes hold about 13 million of its shares, or 3.1% of its basic shares outstanding, less than a single day of trading.

Others framed it as a question of choice. "It removes a company from the default portfolios of tens of millions of people who never chose to remove it," said Conner Brown, executive director of the Bitcoin Policy Institute, in September. MSCI has said its task is to classify companies by what they are, not to judge what they hold. The provider has pointed to investor feedback that some treasury firms behave more like investment funds than operating businesses.

What to watch

November 11 is the next date that matters, when MSCI publishes the final list. Removals, if any, hit after the close on November 30 and feed into the November index review. Until then the current benchmarks are unchanged, and no treasury company has actually been dropped.

Bitcoin itself traded near $82,100 around 07:30 UTC on 16 October 2026, according to CoinGecko, after sliding below $81,000 earlier in the week. The index fight does not touch the coin. It touches the stocks that hold it.