MSCI dropped a rule change on October 16 that could push three bitcoin-holding companies out of its global indexes within weeks. Strategy, Japan's Metaplanet and Upexi are now confirmed candidates for removal, while SharpLink, Ton Strategy Company, Solana Company and DeFi Development Corp sit on a watchlist pending the same test.
The screen itself is fairly blunt. MSCI first checks whether a company runs real operations — a product, a service, recurring revenue that isn't just marking a crypto balance to market. Companies that fail that first cut get run through five financial ratios; hit four out of five and you're out. MSCI will publish the final list on November 11 and the changes take effect November 30.
MSCI isn't asking anyone to sell bitcoin. But index funds that passively track its benchmarks have to dump shares of any company that gets dropped, and they have to do it on rebalancing day. JPMorgan estimates Strategy alone could see about $2.8 billion in forced selling — not a market-moving shock, but a real headwind for a stock already down roughly 72% from its November 2024 high of $543, trading near $151.
For these companies, index membership isn't just prestige. Passive inflows help support a stock premium over the value of the bitcoin sitting on the balance sheet, and that premium is the fuel: Strategy issues new shares above net asset value and uses the proceeds to buy more bitcoin. Analysts at ZEROBASE warn that losing index-driven demand could choke off the very share issuances that fund the buying.
Strategy's leadership — chairman Michael Saylor and CEO Phong Le — pushed back on the proposal over the summer, calling it discriminatory and arguing it wouldn't dent the company's business while damaging MSCI's credibility as a neutral index provider. Strategy still holds 848,250 bitcoin, worth roughly $69.67 billion at current prices, so losing index status won't sink it. Smaller treasuries like Metaplanet and Upexi may have a harder time finding buyers without that passive demand.
