New MSCI criterion puts strategy shares under pressure: CEO Michael Saylor resolutely opposes it
Strategy faces MSCI review and faces exclusion from major indices. Now CEO Michael Saylor speaks out.
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80,222.6124 EUR 1,643.1308 EUR 2.09%
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$93,618.4808 $2,248.2655 2.46%
Indices
4,403.4 PTS 0.9 PKT 0.02%
25,606.5 PKT 50.7 PKT 0.20%
• MSCI is considering new criteria for classifying companies with digital assets as a treasury element
• US investment banks expect Strategy to be excluded from important benchmarks
• Decision on expulsion from MSCI indices expected on January 15, 2026
After a routine MSCI index review in November, Michael Saylor’s strategy came into focus. According to consistent media reports, MSCI is internally examining a new exclusion criterion that would particularly affect Strategy, the world’s largest Bitcoin treasury company.
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Why strategy becomes a target
As TheStreet reports, MSCI is struggling to clearly classify companies that use Bitcoin and other digital assets as a central treasury element. The new criterion aims to eliminate this dilemma: companies whose digital assets make up more than half of their total assets could be excluded from important indices in the future.
Strategy is currently listed in the NASDAQ 100 as well as in the MSCI USA and MSCI World. Since Michael Saylor’s company is now valued almost entirely through his Bitcoin holdings, the company is at risk of being shut out. MSCI will decide whether Strategy remains in the benchmarks at the regular rebalancing on January 15, 2026.
US investment banks expect exclusion
According to CoinDesk, JPMorgan sees the recent losses in Strategy shares less as a reaction to the crypto market and more as a growing nervousness surrounding the MSCI review. Over a 30-day period, the stock has lost around 26.58 percent of its value on the NASDAQ and most recently cost $181.33 (as of December 2, 2025).
According to analysts’ estimates, the valuation discount is closely linked to the risk that Strategy will be removed from important indices in January. Around nine billion US dollars of market capitalization is tied up in passive products that exactly reflect these indices. As TheStreet reports, TD Cowen is going further and expects all MSCI indexes to drop Strategy in early 2026.
Michael Saylor firmly counters worries about MSCI review
After the warnings from JPMorgan and TD Cowen, CEO Michael Saylor spoke out himself. Via
Response to MSCI Index Matter
Strategy is not a fund, not a trust, and not a holding company. We’re a publicly traded operating company with a $500 million software business and a unique treasury strategy that uses Bitcoin as productive capital.
This year alone, we’ve completed…
– Michael Saylor (@saylor) November 21, 2025
The broad use of digital assets is part of an active treasury model that is fundamentally different from funds, trusts or holding companies. Saylor pointed to five digital credit instruments placed this year totaling more than $7.7 billion, including the Bitcoin-backed product “Stretch,” which offers variable USD yields to institutional and retail investors.
These activities, he argues, demonstrate the company’s innovative strength in the interaction between capital markets and software. According to Saylor, it is not the index classification that defines the company, but rather its long-term vision of a Bitcoin-based financial and software model.
What consequences an exclusion would have for Strategy shares
A possible expulsion from the MSCI benchmarks would be much more than a formal adjustment. As a report from CoinDesk shows, JPMorgan expects around $2.8 billion in capital to be withdrawn from MSCI-linked index funds alone. If the decision sends a signal to other providers, a total of up to $8.8 billion in passive funds would be affected.
For Strategy itself, there would not only be additional pressure to sell, but also a possible loss of reputation, which could make it more difficult to raise new equity and debt capital. Less index presence would also put a strain on the stock’s liquidity and deter institutional investors. However, according to TheStreet, TD Cowen pointed out that although an exclusion would have a significant impact in the short term, it would hardly affect the structural trend of Strategy’s Bitcoin Treasury strategy in the long term.
Editorial team finanzen.net