MSCI Scraps Plan To Exclude Digital Asset Treasury Firms, Signals Rethink
MSCI has dropped a plan that might have kicked so referred to as digital asset treasury corporations out of its fairness indexes, opting as a substitute for a wider rethink on the way it treats companies that maintain massive swimming pools of non working property akin to Bitcoin.
The index provider said on Tuesday it’s going to preserve the present method for corporations on its preliminary listing of Digital Asset Treasury Companies, a label it makes use of for companies whose digital asset holdings make up 50% or extra of whole property.
That determination retains Strategy in MSCI’s international benchmarks for now, a key level for a inventory that sits within the path of passive cash. Strategy shares rose about 6% in after-hours buying and selling after the replace, even after a 47.5% slide in 2025.
Strategy cheered the result in an X put up saying, “MSCI confirmed Digital Asset Treasury Companies will stay in MSCI Indexes for the Feb 2026 evaluation. A robust end result for impartial indexing and financial actuality.”
MSCI Seeks Clearer Criteria For Companies Holding Crypto Assets
MSCI mentioned it heard from buyers who fear that some DATCOs look and behave like funding funds, which typically don’t qualify for inclusion in its fairness benchmarks.
“Distinguishing between funding corporations and different corporations that maintain non-operating property, akin to digital property, as a part of their core operations relatively than for funding functions requires additional analysis and session with market contributors,” MSCI mentioned.
The agency added that it might want new yardsticks to guage eligibility, together with measures primarily based on monetary statements and different indicators, because it broadens the evaluation past crypto treasury names.
Index Methodology Rethink Buys Time For Digital Asset Treasury Firms
The rethink issues as a result of index guidelines can power palms. When MSCI first floated the exclusion thought in late 2025, analysts and market contributors warned it may trigger $10B to $15B of selling across dozens of listed crypto treasury firms, relying on how a lot passive capital tracks the affected benchmarks.
Strategy pushed again laborious. In a Dec. 10 letter signed by govt chairman Michael Saylor and chief govt Phong Le, the corporate called the proposal “misguided” and warned it could have “profoundly harmful consequences” for capital markets and US digital asset management.
Wall Street analysts had additionally tried to quantify the hit. JPMorgan previously estimated that passive outflows tied to MSCI alone could reach about $2.8B for Strategy if MSCI compelled index trackers to divest.
MSCI had initially deliberate to publish conclusions from its session by mid Jan. 2026, with any modifications touchdown within the Feb. 2026 index evaluation.
Tuesday’s reversal retains the established order in place whereas the agency opens a broader dialog about non working firm classifications.
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