Strategy Demands MSCI Scrap Bitcoin (BTC) Index Exclusion Plan Covering 845,050 BTC

Strategy Calls MSCI Proposal Flawed

Strategy, the company holding the largest corporate Bitcoin (BTC) treasury, escalated its fight against index exclusion on Aug. 31, 2026, submitting a formal letter that urges index provider MSCI to withdraw its consultation on removing “non-operating companies” from global equity benchmarks. The letter, signed by co-founder and executive chairman Michael Saylor and CEO Phong Le and posted to Strategy’s own investor-relations site, brands the proposal “misguided, flawed and discriminatory” and argues it would strip companies built around Bitcoin accumulation strategies out of the benchmarks that anchor trillions of dollars in passive capital. That channel matters far beyond one stock: removal from a major index can trigger mechanical selling by index funds, and the stakes extend to the broader corporate strategic bitcoin reserve playbook that dozens of listed firms now follow.

The company frames four specific objections. First, the consultation singles out digital-asset treasury (DAT) firms — reviving, in Strategy’s view, a 2025 proposal that would have excluded companies holding digital assets above 50% of total assets and was shelved in January 2026 after industry pushback; Strategy argues the new text changes the name and screening mechanics while leaving the substantive aim untouched. Second, the “operating” versus “non-operating” distinction has no definition under US GAAP or IFRS, and Strategy points out that it reports its bitcoin business as an operating segment under US GAAP — a designation that, in its view, rules out any treatment of the firm as a passive investment vehicle. Third, excluding companies purely on asset-composition grounds contradicts established accounting and securities-law principles. Fourth, importing MSCI’s own policy judgment into index construction would erode the neutrality and reliability that index users depend on. Strategy adds that exclusion would have no material practical impact on its business — the objection, it stresses, is to the proposal itself, not to the consequences for its own shares.

Three Firms Flagged in Simulation

Under the proposal MSCI published on Aug. 14, 2026, eligibility would first hinge on whether operating assets exceed 50% of total assets; companies failing that screen would then be assessed across five financial metrics covering operating assets, operating expenses and cash flow, with breaches of four or more rendering them ineligible for inclusion. MSCI’s own simulation, run on May 2026 data, placed Strategy, Tokyo-listed Metaplanet and the UK-listed uranium holder Yellow Cake among the constituents that would drop out of the core ACWI IMI index. At roughly $23.9 billion in float-adjusted market capitalization, Strategy is the largest company on the potential exclusion list, and investors are watching for forced selling by the passive funds and ETF portfolios that track the affected benchmarks — a risk Strategy itself flagged in its annual report, warning that index removal could pressure its share price and liquidity. The pushback is not only procedural: the company notes it employs roughly 1,500 people worldwide and books its bitcoin operations as a separate operating segment with related profit and loss treated as operating items. Accumulation has not paused during the dispute, either. Between Aug. 24 and Aug. 30, Strategy purchased an additional 4,603 BTC for about $369.7 million, lifting total holdings to 845,050 BTC as of Aug. 30 at an aggregate acquisition cost of approximately $63.73 billion — a scale that makes the firm the defining corporate whale in the asset class and the reason index committees cannot ignore it, whatever the fate of its long-term HODL posture. Readers tracking the market in real time can follow live spot and futures prices on Bitget.

November Review Is the Test

The governing text here is the consultation paper MSCI issued on eligibility of non-operating companies for its Global Investable Market Indexes, not a final rule: comment runs through Sept. 30, results are due by Oct. 16, and adoption would take effect from the November index review, with first-screen breaches placed on a monitoring list before removal the following year. The 2025 digital-asset version was withdrawn under industry pressure, so outcomes are not predetermined. COINOTAG’s read: the letter is positioning for the comment window, and the 50%-of-assets operating screen — not the label — will decide whether Bitcoin treasury firms remain investable in passive portfolios.