New York, January 6, 2026, 18:07 (EST)
- MSCI said it will not implement a plan to exclude “digital asset treasury” companies from key global equity indexes in the February review
- The index provider plans a broader consultation on how to treat “non-operating” firms and investment-like business models
- Strategy shares rose 6% after-hours after the announcement; MSCI also froze several index-weight adjustments for firms on its list
MSCI said on Tuesday it has decided “not to implement” a proposal to exclude digital asset treasury companies from its MSCI Global Investable Market Indexes as part of its February 2026 index review, and will instead open a wider consultation on the treatment of non-operating companies. https://app2.msci.com/webapp/index_ann/DocGet?format=html&lang=en&pub_key=DD3Olh5uInk%3D
The decision matters because MSCI benchmarks are widely used by passive funds that track indexes. A removal can force automatic selling, while inclusion can keep a stock in front of large pools of index-linked money.
MSCI’s stance was not a clean all-clear. It said companies on its preliminary list — firms where digital asset holdings represent 50% or more of total assets — will keep their current treatment, but MSCI will freeze changes that can lift a stock’s index weight and will defer additions or moves between size buckets such as small and standard indexes.
Strategy (MSTR) rose 6% in after-hours trading on Tuesday after MSCI’s announcement, and Bitmine Immersion shares gained 3.5%, Investing.com reported. https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/strategy-stock-surges-6-after-msci-decides-against-excluding-crypto-firms-4433541
MSCI began consulting investors in October on whether crypto-heavy balance sheets should push some companies into the same category as investment funds, which are generally excluded from its equity indexes. The firm had said the consultation would run through Dec. 31, with conclusions due by Jan. 15. 1
Strategy has pushed back hard on the proposal. In a Dec. 10 letter to MSCI’s equity index committee, Executive Chairman Michael J. Saylor and Chief Executive Phong Le called the digital-asset-specific 50% threshold “discriminatory, arbitrary, and unworkable,” warning that price swings could make companies “whipsaw” in and out of indexes. 2
The reprieve may prove temporary. MSCI said it needs more work to distinguish between investment companies and operating firms that hold large non-operating assets, and it may update its preliminary list as company disclosures change — leaving the door open to tougher rules later. 3
For investors, the next fight is definitional: what counts as an operating company when some listed firms use bitcoin and other tokens as a core treasury asset. Until MSCI finishes its broader review, crypto-treasury stocks are likely to trade on both token prices and index-policy risk.
