MSCI Weighs Broader Index Screen After Dropping Bitcoin Rule
The proposed test targets non-operating companies and could affect digital-asset treasury firms without creating a Bitcoin-specific exclusion category.
MSCI is considering a broader screen for non-operating companies in its global investable indexes, a move that could affect Bitcoin treasury firms while stopping short of creating a Bitcoin-specific exclusion category.
The Aug. 3, 2026, consultation would first test whether a company has “substantial operating assets.” Companies that fail the core screen would then face five additional financial ratios, and failure of four of the five could make them ineligible for the indexes.
The proposal expands on MSCI’s October 2025 proposal, which targeted companies whose Bitcoin or other digital-asset holdings represented at least 50% of total assets. MSCI did not implement that rule for the February 2026 Index Review and instead began examining non-operating companies across sectors.
Strive’s Dec. 4, 2025, letter opposed the earlier 50% threshold, calling it “unjustified, overbroad and unworkable.” Strive Chairman and CEO Matt Cole wrote that Bitcoin-backed structured-finance products represented an operating business rather than an investment fund.
“We believe the path forward is not to hardwire a controversial judgment about digital asset treasuries into MSCI’s definition of the equity universe,” Cole wrote. “We respectfully urge you to reconsider.”
The letter proposed retaining companies that satisfy existing size, liquidity and free-float requirements while allowing clients to use customized “ex-Digital Asset Treasury” indexes or other screens.
The current consultation evaluates companies through measures involving operating assets, cash flows, fair-value changes and capital-raising activity. Bitcoin treasury companies are not named as a standalone exclusion category.
Existing constituents would face two consecutive failures before deletion under the proposed buffers. Non-constituents would be assessed using their latest filing.
TD Securities analyst Lance Vitanza said digital-asset treasury companies raise capital, issue debt, structure preferred securities, manage liabilities and create Bitcoin-linked investment products. “The calculations seem overly complex and designed as if they were to achieve a foregone decision instead of solving for a hole in the existing methodology,” Vitanza said.
The issue matters because MSCI indexes are used as benchmarks for institutional portfolios and can affect passive allocations. The broader MSCI index proposal remains subject to consultation.
MSCI will accept feedback through Sept. 30, 2026. MSCI expects to announce the results by Oct. 16, with any adopted changes proposed for the November 2026 Index Review.
