Strive CEO Matt Cole criticizes MSCI's Bitcoin exclusion proposal

Strive Inc. CEO Matt Cole fired off a pointed letter to MSCI on September 25, taking aim at the index giant's latest attempt to define which companies qualify as "operating entities" in its Global Investable Market Indexes. At the heart of the dispute: whether firms that hold large amounts of Bitcoin on their balance sheets deserve a spot in the indexes that guide trillions of dollars in passive investment flows.

Cole's core complaint is that MSCI's definition of "operating assets" is too vague and could be applied inconsistently across different business models. For a company like Strive, which holds over 7,500 BTC and ranks as the 14th-largest public corporate Bitcoin holder, the stakes are existential.

This isn't the first time MSCI has tried to draw a line around crypto-heavy companies. Back in December 2025, the index provider floated a rule that would exclude firms whose digital asset holdings exceeded 50% of total assets. Industry backlash was swift and loud enough that MSCI scrapped the rule in January 2026.

MSCI opened a fresh consultation in August 2026, this time exploring multi-ratio financial screens to classify public companies as either operating businesses or non-operating entities. Companies like Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) and Metaplanet could fail the proposed financial ratio screens and face deletion from MSCI's indexes, according to the consultation materials.