MSCI Proposes Excluding Non‑Operating Asset Holders from Global Equity Benchmarks

MSCI, one of the world’s largest index providers, is asking investors whether it should remove companies built around holding non-operating assets from its global equity benchmarks, a change that could affect passive-fund ownership of stocks including bitcoin treasury firm Strategy.

In a consultation published in August 2026, MSCI said a May 2026 simulation showed three current constituents of the MSCI ACWI IMI would have been deleted under the proposed rule: Strategy in the United States, Yellow Cake PLC in the United Kingdom and Metaplanet in Japan. The feedback deadline is Sept. 30, with results expected on or before Oct. 16 and possible implementation in MSCI’s November 2026 index review.

MSCI said the goal is to “measure the performance of operating companies and exclude entities whose primary activities are investment-oriented in nature.” It described the companies in question as ones that “create value by accumulating and holding non-operating assets” and are “reliant on external capital, not their own operations, to grow.”

The proposal would apply to what MSCI calls “Non-Operating Companies” in its Global Investable Market Indexes, or GIMI, the benchmark family widely used by ETFs, mutual funds and pension products. Under MSCI’s draft methodology, companies would first face a core screen: operating assets would need to be more than 50% of total assets to pass.

If a company failed that first test, it would move to an exclusion screen based on five financial ratios. A company would become ineligible if it was flagged on four of the five. The proposed thresholds are operating asset intensity below 20%, expense intensity below 5%, operating cash flow below zero, fair-value intensity above 5% of total assets, and financing cash flow relative to total assets above 20%.

The issue matters because index membership can drive automatic buying and selling by funds that track MSCI benchmarks. Market coverage has cited analyst estimates that a Strategy deletion from major indexes could lead to sizable passive outflows. Those figures vary by assumption, with published estimates ranging from roughly $1.8 billion to $2.8 billion, including a JPMorgan estimate of about $2.8 billion. Those are estimates, not confirmed flows.

Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, has publicly opposed the proposal and filed a formal response asking MSCI to withdraw it. “We ask MSCI to withdraw its proposal,” the company said. Strategy argued the terminology in the proposal has “no basis in U.S. GAAP, IFRS, or any recognized legal framework.” The company changed its legal name to Strategy Inc. on Aug. 11, 2025. As of August 2026, it had publicly disclosed holdings of about 840,447 bitcoin, making it the best-known listed company associated with a bitcoin treasury strategy.

MSCI’s simulation list also shows the proposal is not framed solely around crypto. Yellow Cake is a uranium-holding company, while Strategy and Metaplanet are bitcoin treasury companies. MSCI has presented the consultation as a broader methodology question about whether indexes meant to track operating businesses should include companies whose main activity resembles asset holding or investment.

The consultation follows an earlier, narrower MSCI proposal from Oct. 10, 2025, that would have excluded Digital Asset Treasury Companies if digital assets made up 50% or more of total assets. On Jan. 6, 2026, MSCI said it would not implement that crypto-specific rule in the February 2026 index review and would instead pursue a broader, asset-neutral consultation on non-operating companies.

Investors now have until Sept. 30 to respond to that broader proposal, with MSCI due to announce the outcome by mid-October.