Companies holding bitcoin on their balance sheets, Strategy and Metaplanet, may be excluded from the MSCI Global Investable Market Indexes. This is due to the index provider adopting a proposal to exclude non-operating companies from the global index.
The decision followed a consultation launched by MSCI in August. During this consultation, the regulator proposed expanding the definition of non-operating companies: these include issuers similar in characteristics to investment funds and business development companies (BDC). Two stages of verification are used to identify them. First, it is determined whether the issuer has significant operating expenses. Issuers not passing this stage undergo exclusion verification based on five sector-neutral financial indicators: operating asset intensity, expense intensity, cash flow, fair value intensity, and capital dependency. Exclusion occurs if the issuer fails at least four out of five indicators.
MSCI announced that it will publish the final list of companies at risk of exclusion on November 11. Companies that fail the verification in the last two annual reports will be removed from the index.
In MSCI's simulation, Strategy and Metaplanet are named among the companies at risk of exclusion. On the watchlist are crypto treasury companies Bitmine, Upexi, Cypherpunk Technologies, and DeFi Development. Following the November 2026 index review, the new methodology will replace temporary measures MSCI introduced for companies holding digital assets.
Strategy's shares fell by more than 1% in after-hours trading to $149, according to TradingView.
This material is prepared solely for informational purposes and does not constitute financial advice or a recommendation.
Related articles
