NEW YORK, Jan 7, 2026, 10:31 EST
- MSCI said it will not exclude digital asset treasury companies from its indexes in the February 2026 review, but will open a wider consultation
- Strategy shares rose in early trade after the decision, though bitcoin’s slip pared gains
- MSCI said it will freeze some inputs that drive index weights for affected stocks and pause new additions and size shifts
Shares of Strategy rose on Wednesday after MSCI shelved a plan that could have pushed the bitcoin-heavy company out of key stock indexes. The stock was last up about 3.2% in morning trading, trimming earlier gains as bitcoin slipped.
The decision matters because index membership can translate into steady demand from funds that track benchmarks. Investors had worried a rule change would force passive portfolios to sell, turning a methodology debate into a near-term trading event.
MSCI said it has decided “not to implement” the proposed exclusion of so-called digital asset treasury companies in the February 2026 index review, and will instead open a broader consultation on “non-operating companies.” For now, MSCI said affected stocks stay in, but it will not raise measures like the “Number of Shares” and inclusion factors — inputs it uses to set index weights and investable share counts — and it will defer new additions and size-category moves. https://app2.msci.com/webapp/index_ann/Doc…
Digital asset treasury companies, often called DATCOs, are listed firms that hold tokens such as bitcoin and ether as main treasury assets, offering investors a stock-market proxy for crypto exposure. The trade surged in 2025, but the shares have stayed jumpy with coin prices and a still-messy accounting debate over whether these firms should be valued as operating businesses or as holding vehicles.
Owen Lau, an analyst at Clear Street, said MSCI’s pause “removes a material near-term technical risk” for stocks that trade as crypto proxies. He said the most likely path is that MSCI “grandfather” existing DATCOs already in its indexes.
Mike O’Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading, said MSCI’s decision points to another, broader consultation, and he suspects any exclusion is “postponed until later in the year.” The open question is whether index providers ultimately decide these firms look more like investment funds than operating companies.
MSCI said on Tuesday it would maintain the existing treatment of companies on its preliminary DATCO list, defined as those whose digital asset holdings account for 50% or more of total assets. Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, called the decision “a strong outcome for neutral indexing and economic reality” in a post on X, after its shares jumped about 6% in after-hours trade; the stock fell about 47.5% in 2025. https://www.reuters.com/business/msci-drop…
In an earlier consultation document, MSCI listed Strategy among potentially impacted securities, alongside names such as Mara Holdings, Hut 8 and Japan’s Metaplanet. MSCI has said it may update that preliminary list as company disclosures change.
Even without an outright removal, the freeze MSCI outlined can still bite. Investors.com reported the rule set limits how much index weights can grow through share issuance, a sensitive point for Strategy given its reliance on capital raises to keep buying bitcoin.
