MSCI Proposes Screening Out Non-Operating Companies From Global Indexes
A May 2026 simulation identified Strategy, Yellow Cake PLC and Metaplanet for potential deletion, while three other companies were placed on a watchlist.
MSCI is considering a broader screen for companies with limited operating activity, a move that could affect Bitcoin treasury firms and other companies in its global investable indexes.
The proposal would exclude companies that fail a core operating-assets test and at least four of five additional financial tests. Operating assets exceeding 50% of total assets would satisfy the core screen.
Companies below that level would be evaluated on operating-asset intensity, expense intensity, cash flow, fair-value changes and capital dependence. The proposed thresholds include operating assets below 20% of total assets, operating expenses below 5% of total assets, negative operating cash flow, non-operating fair-value changes above 5% of total assets, or capital dependence above 20%.
A simulation using May 2026 data for the MSCI ACWI Investable Market Index identified Strategy, Yellow Cake PLC and Metaplanet for potential deletion. SharpLink, Center Laboratories and Lydia Holding would have been placed on a watchlist.
The framework does not specifically name Bitcoin (BTC). The framework uses balance-sheet composition, spending, operating cash flow, valuation gains or losses, and reliance on new capital to distinguish active businesses from investment-like entities.
The consultation follows an earlier proposal focused specifically on companies whose digital-asset holdings represented at least 50% of total assets. In a Dec. 4, 2025 letter, Strive Chairman and CEO Matt Cole called that threshold “not only unjustified, but overbroad and unworkable.”
“We believe in both Bitcoin and passive investing,” Cole wrote.
MSCI announced Jan. 6 that it would not implement the earlier Bitcoin-specific exclusion in its February 2026 index review. It instead began examining non-operating companies across sectors.
Removal from a widely followed equity index can affect access to passive investment mandates and institutional allocations. The current proposal remains subject to consultation, and the potential deletions have not been finalized.
Feedback is due Sept. 30, 2026. MSCI expects to announce the results by Oct. 16, 2026, with any changes proposed for the November 2026 index review. Existing constituents would face two consecutive annual failures before deletion, while non-constituents would be assessed using their latest filing.
