MSCI’s crypto treasury rules could spur $15B of forced selling

Crypto treasury companies could beryllium forced to merchantability arsenic overmuch arsenic $15 cardinal successful crypto if the Morgan Stanley Capital International Index (MSCI) goes up and excludes them from its indexes. 

BitcoinForCorporations, a radical campaigning against MSCI’s proposal, projected outflows of betwixt $10 and $15 cardinal based connected a “verified preliminary list” of 39 companies with $113 cardinal successful full float-adjusted marketplace capitalization.

It added that JPMorgan’s investigation estimated that Michael Saylor’s Strategy could spot $2.8 cardinal successful outflows if it were removed from the MSCI. The Bitcoin treasury steadfast represents 74.5% of the full impacted float-adjusted marketplace cap.

Analysts calculated imaginable outflows could full $11.6 cardinal crossed each impacted companies. Such a ample outflow would enactment much selling unit connected crypto markets, which person already been trending downward for astir 3 months.

The BitcoinForCorporations petition missive had 1,268 signatures astatine the clip of writing.

We spell retired the imaginable implications of MSCI's projected 50% DAT exclusion rule: https://t.co/ceJZU0dRTP pic.twitter.com/5CixFrEYVR

— George Mekhail (@gmekhail) December 17, 2025

Balance expanse not a just metric

The MSCI announced successful October that it was consulting with the concern assemblage astir whether to exclude crypto treasury companies that person the bulk of their equilibrium expanse successful crypto. 

MSCI’s indexes service arsenic captious benchmarks that find which companies passive concern funds indispensable hold, making inclusion decisions highly consequential for companies’ entree to capital.

However, BitcoinForCorporations said that a equilibrium expanse metric is unfair for judging a company. 

“A azygous equilibrium expanse metric cannot bespeak whether a institution is an operating business. The regularisation would region companies adjacent erstwhile their customers, revenue, operations, and concern exemplary stay unchanged.”

Related: Strategy survives archetypal Nasdaq 100 shakeup since entering the index

They added that MSCI should “withdraw the connection and proceed to classify companies based connected their existent concern model, fiscal performance, and operational characteristics.”

MSCI’s last conclusions volition beryllium announced by Jan. 15, and projected implementation volition beryllium included successful the February 2026 Index Review.

Growing objections to the proposal 

Several ample manufacture players person precocious voiced their objections to the MSCI proposal.

On Dec. 5, Nasdaq-listed Strive urged the MSCI to “let the marketplace decide” whether they privation to see Bitcoin-holding companies successful their passive investments.

A fewer days later, Strategy stated successful a missive that the projected argumentation alteration would bias the MSCI against crypto arsenic an plus class, alternatively than the scale institution acting arsenic a neutral arbiter.

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