MSCI Finalizes Index Rule Barring Corporate Bitcoin Treasury Holdings

Index provider MSCI has finalized rule changes that classify non-operating companies as ineligible for its Global Investable Market Indexes, effective at the close of November 30. The policy directly targets corporate entities that hold digital assets as their dominant balance sheet component, such as Michael Saylor's Strategy and Japan's Metaplanet.

The framework employs a core screening process followed by an exclusion assessment evaluating five financial ratios, flagging issuers that fail four or more metrics as passive investment structures. The final decision revokes a previously proposed temporary reprieve for firms holding more than 50 percent of their assets in digital currencies, with MSCI scheduled to publish the list of affected companies on November 11.

To manage constituent turnover, MSCI introduced buffer criteria requiring existing index members to fail the screen across two consecutive annual filing periods before being removed, while new entrants are barred if they fail either period. The potential exclusion from benchmark indexes is expected to prompt mandatory share divestments by passive index-tracking funds, drawing criticism from Saylor, who termed the policy discriminatory.