Strategy under pressure: Strategy and Metaplanet may be excluded from MSCI indices due to new rules
MSCI, one of the world's leading stock index providers, has launched consultations that could radically change the composition of global indices. The proposal concerns the exclusion of so-called "non-operating companies"—those whose business is built not on production or services, but on holding assets. Modeling based on data from May 2026 shows that Strategy and Metaplanet—two companies that bet on bitcoin as a corporate reserve asset—are in the crosshairs. Along with them, Yellow Cake PLC, which stores physical uranium, could also leave the index.
What MSCI is proposing
MSCI, formerly known as Morgan Stanley Capital International, develops benchmark indices that asset managers around the world follow. A change in selection criteria could trigger large-scale buying or selling by index funds, which are required to replicate the index's composition. The new filter includes five financial ratios, among them—the share of operating assets on the balance sheet, cash flow, and the dependence of growth on external financing. A company will be excluded if it fails four of the five tests.
The project is clearly aimed at companies that behave more like investment funds rather than operating businesses. At the first stage of the review, a company only advances to the second round if operating assets account for less than half of its balance sheet. This is where Strategy and Metaplanet stumble. The former issues shares and bonds to buy BTC, rather than to grow its software business. The latter—a Tokyo-based company that has amassed the world's third-largest corporate bitcoin reserve by selling its own shares.
Transitional measures and public watchlist
MSCI plans to set a softer threshold for existing index members than for new candidates. Existing companies will only be excluded after two consecutive failed reviews. Three companies will also be placed on the public watchlist, including SharpLink with ETH reserves—they failed the latest annual review, but exclusion only threatens them after a second failure.
Yellow Cake, which holds physical uranium and conducts no operating activities, violates the same criteria as bitcoin holders, although it has nothing to do with the crypto market. MSCI's consultations will end on September 30, results will be announced on October 16, and changes will take effect during the index review in November 2026.
MSCI's decision could serve as a benchmark for other index providers that will have to determine the fate of public companies that built their financial strategy around digital assets. It seems the era when companies could simply accumulate bitcoin and still be considered operating businesses is coming to an end. Investors should closely monitor developments—exclusion from the MSCI index automatically means pressure from index funds, which will be forced to sell shares of such companies.