Bitcoin treasury firm Strategy (NASDAQ:MSTR), which is led by tech billionaire Michael Saylor and formerly known as MicroStrategy, has publicly opposed a fresh proposal from index provider MSCI that could force its removal from major global equity benchmarks.
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. $BTC $MSTR
— Strategy (@Strategy) August 14, 2026
The firm argues that index constructors should simply reflect market realities rather than attempt to steer what assets public companies may hold.In an official statement on X, Strategy declared that digital assets qualify as legitimate assets.
It insisted index providers ought to measure markets instead of dictating corporate ownership choices.
The company added that MSCI’s approach places the firm at odds with regulators, markets, and its own clients, concluding that neither Bitcoin nor Strategy depends on MSCI’s approval.
This latest consultation from MSCI replaces an earlier plan that specifically targeted firms with substantial digital asset holdings.
That prior initiative, which proposed excluding companies whose digital assets made up 50 percent or more of total assets, drew formal pushback from Strategy in late 2025.
At the time, the company maintained it operates as a genuine business with a software division, active treasury management, and Bitcoin-backed credit products rather than functioning as a passive investment vehicle or fund.
MSCI ultimately set that crypto-specific rule aside in early 2026 while signaling it would examine non-operating companies more broadly.
The new framework shifts to a more general test for identifying “non-operating companies.”
It begins by checking whether operating assets exceed half of total assets.
Firms falling short then face five financial-ratio screens covering operating-asset intensity, operating expenses, cash generation, exposure to fair-value changes, and reliance on external capital.
Triggering at least four of those flags would render a company ineligible.
Existing index members receive somewhat more lenient thresholds and must fail for two consecutive annual reviews before deletion.
When MSCI applied the proposed methodology to May 2026 data, the simulation showed Strategy, Japanese Bitcoin holder Metaplanet, and uranium investor Yellow Cake would have been removed from the MSCI ACWI IMI index.
Strategy ranked as the largest of the three by free-float market capitalization.
The consultation remains open for feedback until the end of September 2026, with results expected by mid-October and any changes potentially taking effect in the November 2026 index review.
MSCI has noted that the process may produce full, partial, or no alterations.
Market observers previously estimated that exclusion from MSCI indexes alone could prompt roughly $2.8 billion in passive outflows from Strategy shares, with the figure rising substantially if other providers followed.
Such forced selling would not require Strategy to liquidate Bitcoin holdings but could pressure its share price and reduce the premium that has historically aided capital raising for further Bitcoin accumulation.
Strategy has recently adjusted its approach, selling some Bitcoin while building cash reserves amid evolving capital-structure needs.
Strategy views the revised rules as recycling the flaws of the earlier proposal by effectively penalizing Bitcoin holdings under a neutral-sounding financial screen.
The company continues to position itself as an operating enterprise that treats Bitcoin as productive capital rather than a static investment. With the feedback window still open, the outcome of this consultation will determine whether one of the largest publicly traded Bitcoin accumulators remains part of widely tracked global equity indexes.
