Strategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) and Japan-based Metaplanet face potential removal from MSCI’s global equity indexes under newly approved eligibility rules targeting companies that resemble investment vehicles.
MSCI announced the framework on October 15, following a consultation process that originally launched in August, with neither company’s removal yet confirmed as final.
The benchmark provider’s final list of affected companies is due November 11, with any resulting changes set to take effect after trading closes on November 30.
MSCI already excludes investment funds, business development companies, and other passive vehicles from its Global Investable Market Indexes, and the new framework extends that treatment to corporate issuers identified through quantitative testing.
A simulation using May 2026 data flagged Strategy and Metaplanet as potential deletions, while Ethereum treasury company SharpLink (SBET) appeared on a watchlist and U.K. uranium investment company Yellow Cake was among firms identified for removal.
Under the new eligibility framework, MSCI will first assess whether a company holds enough assets tied to genuine business operations before applying five further financial tests covering spending, cash flow, asset values, and outside funding.
Companies that fail at least four of those five secondary tests are barred from entering the indexes, while existing members must generally fail across both of their two most recent annual reporting periods before removal is enacted.
JPMorgan analysts estimate that Strategy’s exclusion alone could trigger approximately $2.8 billion in stock outflows, as index-tracking funds would be required to sell shares rather than any Bitcoin holdings.
That prospect creates a broader financing challenge for Bitcoin treasury companies, since index membership supports share demand that these firms rely upon to fund additional cryptocurrency purchases.
Strategy pushed back against the proposal in an August 31 letter to MSCI, asking the index provider to withdraw the framework entirely and arguing that the terms “operating” and “non-operating” carry no basis in U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles or International Financial Reporting Standards.
The company stated it reports its Bitcoin business as an operating segment, a position consistent with the stance of Strategy’s founder Michael Saylor, who has consistently described the firm as an operating business with a software division alongside a separate Bitcoin treasury segment.
MSCI has framed the new rules as industry-neutral, and is expected to publish the definitive list of affected companies on November 11, with implementation following the close of trading on November 30.
