A prominent Bitcoin policy think tank has raised serious questions regarding the methodology and origins behind MSCI’s latest proposals to tighten rules governing its global market indexes. The scrutiny follows the benchmark provider’s identification of several high-profile corporate entities—most notably Strategy and Metaplanet—for potential reclassification as “non-operating businesses.” If finalized, the policy shift could result in the exclusion of these companies from influential global equity benchmarks, triggering substantial downstream market effects.
The controversy traces back to an initial push by MSCI in 2025, when the index provider first proposed excluding digital asset treasury companies from its global indexes altogether. That narrow proposal faced immediate pushback from market participants and analysts. In response, MSCI shelved the specific crypto exclusion plan in January, stating at the time that it would instead conduct a broader review encompassing all “non-operating companies.” However, the debate reignited when MSCI returned with a wider, generalized proposal that, through a new series of filters, could still effectively remove Strategy and Metaplanet from its indexes.
BPI Questions How MSCI Defines an Operating Company
The Bitcoin Policy Institute (BPI) waded into the controversy with a recently published research paper titled Wall Street’s Invisible Committee. In the report, the organization pointed to digital metadata indicating that the source presentation behind MSCI’s latest consultation was originally stored in an internal folder designated for digital asset treasury companies. According to the BPI, this finding raises legitimate concerns about whether MSCI’s broader regulatory language simply carries forward its earlier, shelved effort to specifically exclude digital asset treasury firms under a different guise.
Under the terms of the newly proposed framework, MSCI would first evaluate whether a candidate company possesses substantial operating assets before subjecting it to an additional battery of five separate financial tests. Simulations run by MSCI using its own proposed methodology revealed that Strategy, Metaplanet, and Yellow Cake—a prominent uranium investment company—would fail the criteria and be removed from its indexes.
The potential removal of major crypto treasury firms like Strategy and Metaplanet carries significant financial weight. Because institutional investment funds frequently track MSCI’s global benchmarks, an exclusion could force these funds to liquidate their holdings in the affected companies. Previous estimates from JPMorgan analysts highlighted the sheer scale of potential capital disruption, suggesting that Strategy alone could face approximately $2.8 billion in forced selling pressure if it were dropped from the indexes.
Cointelegraph reached out to MSCI for comment regarding the BPI’s findings and the broader index consultation, but had not received a response prior to publication.
After shelving its crypto-specific proposal in January, MSCI implemented interim restrictions on affected digital asset treasury companies. These temporary measures included placing strict limits on new additions to its indexes while the index provider developed its broader, multi-sector review. MSCI has consistently maintained that the new test is designed to identify corporate entities whose underlying valuation is derived primarily from the passive accumulation of assets rather than from active, revenue-generating operations.
However, the BPI’s research paper challenges the core terminology underpinning MSCI’s strategy. Specifically, the think tank questioned MSCI’s reliance on the concept of “operating assets,” noting that the term does not correspond to a standardized balance-sheet category under United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP) or International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
According to the BPI, the absence of a standardized definition grants MSCI an extraordinarily high degree of subjective discretion. This ambiguity could influence how the benchmark provider classifies various balance-sheet items, such as liquid cash reserves, general investments, ongoing construction projects, and strategic long-term holdings.
The BPI warned that the implications of such broad administrative discretion extend far beyond the cryptocurrency sector. Capital-intensive industries—such as mining operations or satellite telecommunications networks—frequently hold massive amounts of specialized physical assets and rely heavily on external financing for years before they begin generating consistent revenue streams. Given these operational realities, the think tank called upon MSCI to publish much clearer, reproducible criteria for determining which companies genuinely qualify for inclusion in its broad-market equity indexes.
MSCI accepted public feedback on the consultation through Sept. 30 and has indicated that it expects to announce the final results of the review on or before Oct. 16. Any policy changes resulting from the consultation are currently proposed to take effect officially as part of the broader November 2026 Index Review.
