Strategy, the corporate Bitcoin treasury company led by Michael Saylor, has filed a challenge against MSCI's proposed screen that could classify companies holding large digital-asset positions as non-operating entities, potentially removing them from Global Investable Market Indexes. The company is leaning on MSCI's own regulatory history to make its case.
The Core Argument
In a letter referencing a regulatory position MSCI presented to the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2022, Strategy points out that the index provider told the agency it expresses no view on whether any market, company, strategy or investment is good or bad. Strategy contends that a screen requiring MSCI to determine whether Bitcoin qualifies as an operating corporate asset conflicts with that neutrality defense.
The company further argues that neither GAAP nor IFRS accounting standards provide definitions for the operating and non-operating asset categories MSCI intends to use. Under Strategy's reading, MSCI would effectively create its own standard for classifying corporate Bitcoin activity, then apply that classification to decide which securities qualify for its indexes.
Regulatory Context and Business Risk
The SEC opened a request for comment in 2022 examining circumstances that could bring information providers, including index providers, within the scope of the Investment Advisers Act. MSCI responded by presenting itself as a neutral market measurer that makes no recommendations about investments or asset allocations.
MSCI's latest 10-K filing acknowledges that adviser-style obligations could increase the costs and complexity of its operations. Strategy is pointing the index provider toward a risk it already recognizes in its own public disclosures.
Concentration of Impact
Citing MSCI figures, Strategy reports that its float-adjusted market capitalization totals over $23.9 billion among six companies that would initially face deletion or watchlisting, compared with nearly $3.6 billion for the other five combined. Strategy accounts for approximately 86.9% of the affected float-adjusted market value. That concentration supports Strategy's claim that a nominally industry-neutral methodology would fall overwhelmingly on the largest Bitcoin treasury company, though the figure alone establishes nothing about MSCI's intent.
MSCI's Proposal and Timeline
The index provider opened a public consultation on Aug. 3 as part of a plan to expand existing exclusions for investment funds and business development companies. The proposal would use a core screen and five financial ratios to identify additional non-operating companies, with four triggered flags making a company ineligible for its Global Investable Market Indexes.
MSCI is accepting feedback through Sept. 30 and expects to announce its decision on or before Oct. 16, with implementation proposed for the November 2026 Index Review. Those dates give Strategy only weeks to persuade MSCI that its Bitcoin screen creates a problem extending beyond MSTR's eligibility.
Strategy's Legal Preparations
Strategy's letter asks MSCI to publish more of the consultation record, identify which companies would trigger the proposed screen, and explain the reasoning behind those classifications. Near the end, the company requests that MSCI place a legal hold on documents connected to the purpose, creation, and issuance of the final eligibility test.
The company has announced no litigation, but the preservation request ensures that MSCI retains the internal record behind a methodology Strategy is attacking on regulatory grounds.
What Is at Stake
MSCI has several paths forward. Withdrawing the proposal would remove immediate deletion risk for Strategy and give other Bitcoin treasury companies more room inside broad equity benchmarks. Revising the screen to define operating assets more clearly could reduce near-term cliff risk while creating a more formal framework for digital asset treasury companies. Proceeding unchanged could require index-linked portfolios to adjust their MSTR holdings and establish a template for evaluating other Bitcoin treasury companies as digital assets occupy larger portions of corporate balance sheets.
Strategy's latest 10-Q reporting strengthens its position by showing two operating segments, Software and Bitcoin, with the Bitcoin segment covering treasury operations, acquisitions, capital markets, and capital management. MSCI could still classify the asset base behind that segment differently for index purposes, but Strategy argues doing so would require the index provider to impose its own definition of an operating business on a company whose SEC filings already treat Bitcoin activity as an operating segment.
