Risk Strategy: Strategy and Metaplanet May Leave MSCI Indices Due to New Rules
The world's largest stock index provider, MSCI, has launched a consultation on changing the criteria for including companies in global indices. The proposed measures aim to exclude so-called "non-operating companies"—structures whose business is based not on production or services, but on holding and accumulating assets. In my assessment, this is the first serious signal that traditional index giants are beginning to rethink their approach to companies using the corporate shell as a tool for investment strategy.
A simulation conducted by MSCI based on data from May 2026 showed that well-known bitcoin holders such as Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) and Japan's Metaplanet would fall under the new rules. British company Yellow Cake, which specializes in holding physical uranium, also found itself in the risk zone. This is not just a formality: exclusion from MSCI indices automatically means removal from the portfolios of thousands of index funds worldwide, which will inevitably trigger large-scale share sell-offs.
New filters: what will change
The second stage of screening will include five financial ratios, among them—the share of operating assets on the balance sheet, cash flow, and dependence on external financing. A company will be excluded if it fails four out of five tests. The basic filter already screens out structures where operating assets account for less than half of the balance sheet.
For Strategy and Metaplanet, this is effectively a death sentence: both companies raise capital through share and bond issuances solely to buy bitcoin, rather than to develop their core business. Metaplanet, incidentally, has already amassed the world's third-largest corporate BTC reserve. Yellow Cake, for its part, conducts no operating activities and merely owns physical uranium, which also violates the new criteria.
Transitional measures and timelines
MSCI proposes a softer threshold for existing index members: exclusion will occur only after two consecutive failed reviews. Additionally, three more companies will be added to the public watchlist, including SharpLink, which holds reserves in Ethereum. The final decision will be announced on October 16, and the changes will take effect during the November 2026 index review.
This decision could set a precedent for other index providers, which are now forced to determine the fate of public companies that have built their financial strategy around digital assets. In my view, this is not merely a technical adjustment, but the beginning of a new era in the relationship between crypto-focused issuers and the traditional capital market infrastructure.