Bitcoin Treasury Giant Strategy Faces Index Removal Under Finalized MSCI Rules

In brief

• MSCI finalized a rule treating “non-operating companies” as ineligible for its Global Investable Market Indexes, effective Nov. 30, using a core screen plus a five-ratio exclusion test.
• The change targets Bitcoin treasury firms like Strategy and Metaplanet whose balance sheets are dominated by crypto, and scraps a temporary 2025 reprieve for companies with 50%+ digital-asset holdings; the affected list comes Nov. 11.
• Removal would force index-tracking funds to sell the shares; Saylor called the rule “discriminatory

MSCI has finalized a rule change that threatens to boot Bitcoin treasury companies like Michael Saylor’s Strategy from its widely tracked equity indexes, a move that could cut off a significant source of passive investment demand for their shares.

In an announcement dated Oct. 15, the index provider said it will treat “non-operating companies” as ineligible for inclusion in the MSCI Global Investable Market Indexes, implementing a proposal it floated in August with minor modifications. The change takes effect at the close of Nov. 30 as part of MSCI’s November index review.

The new methodology screens for corporate issuers that lack substantial operating assets and behave more like passive investment vehicles than real businesses. Companies that fail an initial “core screen” are then run through an exclusion test based on five financial ratios; a stock gets flagged as ineligible if it trips four or more of them.