Bitcoin holders Strategy and Metaplanet face stock-index exclusion under MSCI’s new proposal

Top publicly listed bitcoin holding firms, Strategy (MSTR) and Metaplanet (3350), are back in MSCI’s crosshairs, months after dodging the index provider’s crypto-specific exclusion rule.

The finance company has opened a new consultation this month, proposing to identify and exclude “non-operating companies” from its Global Investable Market Indexes. The proposed classification would be based on five financial ratios rather than a threshold for cryptocurrency holdings.

The proposed screen, if applied to the MSCI ACWI IMI Index based on the companies’ crypto holdings as of May 2026, would have resulted in the deletion of three companies: Strategy, Metaplanet and Yellow Cake.

Nasdaq-listed Strategy has steadily accumulated a total of 840,447 BTC ($53.18 billion) since 2020, becoming the largest publicly listed bitcoin holding firm, according to data from Bitcoin Treasuries. Tokyo-listed Metaplanet has snapped up 43,000 BTC, worth over $2 billion. Yellow Cake is a listed holder too, but of uranium, not bitcoin.

The process starts with a core screen which checks if a company’s operating assets account for more than 50% of its total assets. If it does, no further scrutiny is conducted.

If it fails that, it moves to an exclusion screen that uses five ratios – operating asset intensity, expense intensity, cash flow, fair value intensity, and capital dependence – to make the final call.

A company becomes ineligible for index inclusion if it fails four out of the five test ratios.

MSCI’s description of the so-called non-operating companies not fit for index inclusion reads like a checklist of bitcoin treasury firms without naming one.

Companies that “create value by accumulating and holding non-operating assets,” generate little cash from actual operations, and depend on outside capital rather than their own business to grow, MSCI explained. Companies not currently in the index face the stricter thresholds based on their latest single filing.

An earlier consultation, opened in October 2025, targeted “digital asset treasury” firms, specifically those holding 50% or more of assets in bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. That proposal named 39 companies, triggering crypto market volatility and industry backlash. The proposal was ultimately deferred.

MSCI has invited feedback from market participants through Sept. 30, and the results will be announced roughly two weeks later, on Oct. 16.

It has said that any resulting changes would be folded into the November 2026 index review, if the proposal is adopted at all.