MSCI Proposal Threatens to Boot Strategy, Metaplanet From Global Stock Indexes

A new MSCI eligibility screen could push bitcoin-treasury firms Strategy (MSTR) and Metaplanet (3350) out of the index provider’s Global Investable Market Indexes. The consultation, opened Aug. 14, carries real consequences: billions in passive-fund selling if the proposal is adopted.

Rather than naming digital assets directly, the proposal applies a “non-operating company” test grounded in financial ratios. Run the screen against May 2026 data and three names fall out of the MSCI ACWI IMI Index: Strategy, Metaplanet, and uranium holder Yellow Cake, per CoinDesk. Three more land on a public watchlist: SharpLink, Center Laboratories, and Lydia Holding, The Block reported.

Strategy is the biggest name on the chopping block. Its free-float-adjusted market cap stands at $23.9 billion in the simulation. JPMorgan analysts estimated last year that removing Strategy from MSCI indexes could trigger roughly $2.8 billion in passive outflows. That figure predates the current proposal and covers Strategy alone.

The screen runs in two stages. First comes the core test: do operating assets exceed 50% of total assets? Clear that bar and the company stays. Fall short and MSCI applies five exclusion ratios. Operating asset intensity below 20%. Operating expenses below 5% of total assets. Negative operating cash flow. Non-operating fair-value changes above 5%. Capital dependence above 20%. A company must fail the core screen and trip at least four of the five ratios to be deemed ineligible.

MSCI describes the target profile in language that tracks bitcoin treasury firms without naming them. Companies that “create value by accumulating and holding non-operating assets,” generate little cash from operations, and depend on outside capital to grow. Both outlets reported the phrasing.

The consultation feedback deadline is Sept. 30. Results are expected on or about Oct. 16. If adopted, the changes fold into MSCI’s November 2026 index review.

This is not MSCI’s first attempt. An earlier consultation, opened in October 2025, targeted “digital asset treasury” companies holding 50% or more of assets in crypto. It named 39 firms. It also triggered market volatility and industry backlash before being deferred. In January 2026, MSCI said it would not immediately exclude digital-asset treasury companies “for the time being” and would instead examine non-operating companies more broadly. The current proposal is what came back.

The new screen reaches past crypto holders. Yellow Cake, a uranium-stockpile company, faces the same deletion as Strategy in the simulation. That wider net may blunt accusations that MSCI is targeting bitcoin specifically. The criteria still capture the exact profile of a bitcoin treasury firm.

Current index members get more room to breathe than new entrants. Constituents face lower thresholds and must fail the screen for two consecutive annual filings before removal. Non-constituents face stricter thresholds based on a single filing. MSCI wrote in the consultation document that “only a sustained change in business structure triggers reclassification, while a briefer, one-off threshold miss does not.”

Strategy pushed back in public. In a statement on X, the company said: “Digital assets are assets. Index providers should measure markets, not decide which assets companies are allowed to own. MSCI’s proposal puts it out of step with regulators, markets, and its own customers. Bitcoin doesn’t need MSCI. Neither does Strategy.”

The pushback echoes a formal objection Strategy filed in December 2025 against the earlier crypto-specific proposal. It argued it is an operating company, citing its software business, active treasury management, and bitcoin-backed credit instruments, not a passive investment vehicle. It called the 50% threshold “arbitrary.”

Strategy holds 840,447 bitcoin. That is roughly $53.18 billion at current prices, accumulated since 2020. Metaplanet holds 43,000 bitcoin, about $2 billion. MSTR traded at $94.50 at press time, down 4.3% on the session. Bitcoin changed hands near $62,600.

Open questions remain. Will the proposal be adopted? Will other index providers such as FTSE Russell or S&P Dow Jones follow MSCI’s lead? How many companies beyond the six named would fall under the screen? The $2.8 billion outflow estimate covers Strategy only and dates to the prior proposal cycle. Total passive-fund exposure to all affected names is not yet quantified in the sources.