- MSCI decided against excluding companies with crypto-heavy balance sheets from its indexes for the February 2026 review, triggering a 5% rally for Strategy.
- The index provider will instead launch a broader consultation to distinguish between genuine operating businesses and entities that function primarily as investment vehicles.
- Continued inclusion prevents potential forced selling by passive index funds and maintains institutional liquidity for firms holding significant Bitcoin reserves.
Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) is rethinking how to classify companies whose balance sheets are dominated by crypto, but it is not removing them from its indexes yet.
The decision triggered a late-day rally in Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), which rose about 5% in after-hours trading after falling 4.1% during Tuesday’s regular session, according to Google Finance.
MSCI has determined at this time not to implement the proposal to exclude digital asset treasury companies (“DATCOs”) from the MSCI Global Investable Market Indexes (“MSCI Indexes”) as part of the February 2026 Index Review. However, MSCI intends to open a broader consultation on the treatment of non-operating companies generally. This broader review is intended to ensure consistency and continued alignment with the overall objectives of the MSCI Indexes, which seek to measure the performance of operating companies and exclude entities whose primary activities are investment-oriented in nature.
MSCI Read more: Analysts Say Bitcoin Finds Its Footing as 2026 Opens, Eyes Turn to ETF Flows
Strategy Rallies as MCSI Keeps Crypto Companies
In a note published Tuesday, MSCI said it will run broader consultations to separate firms that mainly function like investment vehicles from operating businesses that hold digital assets as part of their core model. MSCI’s indexes are designed to track operating companies and generally exclude entities whose primary activity is investment-oriented.
MSCI groups these firms as “digital asset treasury companies,” defined as companies where digital assets represent 50% or more of total assets. Strategy is the largest of the group, holding 673,783 Bitcoin. At the time, the news that MSCI was about to remove Strategy caused a lot of pain to the company’s stock, mostly because people thought it would trigger a large-scale forced selling of DAT stocks by index funds.
Keeping them in the indexes matters because index inclusion supports eligibility for passive products that track MSCI benchmarks. If excluded, those passive funds could be forced to reduce exposure, potentially cutting liquidity and demand and removing a major source of institutional ownership.
Related: Ripple Triggers Market Buzz With 300M XRP Transfer as XRP Outpaces Majors
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