Index provider MSCI confirmed it will drop bitcoin-holding company Strategy and Japan's Metaplanet from its benchmark stock indexes, with the change taking effect after the market close on November 30, 2026, according to MSCI's updated index list.
Digital-asset holding company Upexi will also be deleted, while Ether-focused Sharplink was placed on a watchlist rather than removed outright. The moves stem from MSCI rules targeting “non-operating” companies that mainly hold crypto assets instead of running an operating business.
Strategy, in its response to MSCI's consultation, said the decision reshaped an older push to screen out crypto-treasury firms and that MSCI “injected policy judgments into index construction.” The company said the affected shares amount to less than a day's trading volume.
JPMorgan estimated index funds could sell up to $2.8 billion of Strategy shares, a figure that could grow further should other providers follow MSCI's example. BloFin Research put the number differently, at about $1.6 billion, or 13 million shares equal to 3.1% of shares outstanding.
Strategy shares slipped 1.65% in extended trading on Wednesday.
Strategy holds 850,364 bitcoin worth $62.6 billion. Its market value relative to that bitcoin stash, known as mNAV, has fallen from a peak of 3.4 times in November 2024 to 1.08 times now. In the week through November 8, the company raised $283.8 million by selling 2.05 million shares but spent just $81.9 million of that on new bitcoin.
10x Research founder Markus Thielen said that with the net-asset-value premium near 1.0, the stock “offers less leverage to Bitcoin.” Independent bitcoin analyst Derin Olenik called the exclusion “a major blow to the institutional adoption narrative.”
MSCI first flagged the plan on October 16, when the decision was still preliminary. It remains unclear whether other index providers will follow MSCI's lead or how the exclusion will affect Strategy's ability to raise capital through share sales.
