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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.
The rule is aimed squarely at firms whose balance sheets are dominated by a single asset, the model pioneered by Saylor's Strategy, which holds hundreds of thousands of Bitcoin, and adopted by Japan's Metaplanet and a wave of imitators.
To limit index churn, MSCI built in buffers: current index constituents will only be removed if they fail the screen in each of their two most recent annual filing periods, while new additions are blocked if they fail in either of the last two. MSCI said it would publish the final list of affected companies on Nov. 11.
The decision also ends a temporary reprieve. As the crypto-treasury trend exploded, MSCI last year froze certain index adjustments for companies whose digital-asset holdings made up 50% or more of their total assets; that interim measure now gets scrapped, with all such firms assessed under the new rules.
Saylor Urges MSCI to Drop 'Discriminatory' Rule That Would Delete Strategy
Removal from major MSCI indexes would force the funds that track them to sell the affected shares, potentially pressuring stock prices and shrinking the premium these companies have long traded at over the value of their crypto. Saylor had urged MSCI to drop what he called a "discriminatory" rule that would delete Strategy from its benchmarks.
The threat has already spurred defensive maneuvers. Metaplanet recently sold 10,000 Bitcoin and bought back 11,000 to demonstrate active treasury management, while Strategy has kept accumulating, adding to its stack even as the index question loomed.
