{"id":878643,"date":"2025-12-18T23:17:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T05:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/18\/msci-index-changes-could-force-15b-crypto-treasury-selloff\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T23:17:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T05:17:13","slug":"msci-index-changes-could-force-15b-crypto-treasury-selloff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/18\/msci-index-changes-could-force-15b-crypto-treasury-selloff\/","title":{"rendered":"MSCI Index Changes Could Force $15B Crypto Treasury Selloff"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Crypto Journalist<\/p>\n

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Anas Hassan<\/p>\n

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Crypto Journalist<\/p>\n

Anas Hassan<\/span>\"Verified\"<\/span>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Part of the Team Since<\/p>\n

Jun 2025<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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About Author<\/p>\n

Anas is a crypto native journalist and SEO writer with over five years of writing experience covering blockchain, crypto, DeFi, and emerging tech.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Last updated:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"MSCI<\/p>\n

MSCI\u2019s proposal to exclude digital asset treasury companies<\/a> from its Global Investable Market Indexes has triggered mounting opposition from industry leaders, with analysts warning the move could trigger selling pressure of $10 billion to $15 billion<\/strong> across 39 companies<\/strong> holding $113 billion<\/strong> in combined float-adjusted market capitalization.<\/p>\n

\"MSCI
Source: BitcoinForCorporation<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The consultation closes December 31, with a final decision expected January 15, 2026, targeting firms whose digital asset holdings exceed 50% of total assets, with implementation scheduled for February\u2019s Index Review.<\/p>\n

Strategy Inc. formally challenged the proposal in a December 10 letter<\/a>, signed by Executive Chairman Michael Saylor and CEO Phong Le, calling the move \u201cmisguided<\/em><\/strong>\u201d and \u201cprofoundly harmful consequences<\/em><\/strong>\u201d to capital markets and U.S. digital asset leadership. <\/p>\n

The company argued that the proposal conflicts with the current administration\u2019s pro-innovation digital asset agenda, including initiatives such as a Strategic Bitcoin<\/strong><\/a> Reserve and efforts to expand retirement plan access to digital assets.<\/p>\n

Operating Companies Face Investment Fund Classification<\/span><\/h2>\n

Strategy\u2019s core argument centers on distinguishing operating businesses from passive investment vehicles. <\/p>\n

The company emphasized that it runs a Bitcoin-backed corporate treasury and capital markets program, issuing equity and fixed-income instruments with varying levels of Bitcoin exposure.<\/p>\n

BitcoinForCorporations\u2019 technical analysis demonstrates MSCI\u2019s proposal violates core benchmark principles of representativeness, neutrality, and stability under IOSCO and BMR standards.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

The group notes that MSCI has historically included REITs despite their 75% real estate concentration, Berkshire Hathaway, with its large investment portfolio, and mining companies holding substantial gold reserves. <\/p>\n

Yet, it has never excluded operating companies based on their treasury asset composition.<\/p>\n

Strategy warned MSCI\u2019s 50% threshold is arbitrary, noting crypto volatility and divergent accounting standards could cause companies to \u201cwhipsaw on and off<\/em><\/strong>\u201d indices as valuations fluctuate.<\/p>\n

Industry Coalition Challenges Methodology<\/span><\/h2>\n

Strive Asset Management also submitted opposition on December 6<\/a>, with CEO Matt Cole arguing that the proposal misunderstands the role of Bitcoin-focused firms in AI infrastructure. <\/p>\n

Miners, including MARA Holdings, Riot Platforms, and Hut 8, are retooling data centers for high-intensity AI workloads. \u201cMany analysts argue that the AI race is increasingly limited by access to power, not semiconductors,<\/em>\u201d Cole wrote.<\/p>\n

Strive proposed a parallel \u201cex-digital asset treasury\u201d index version, allowing selective avoidance while maintaining full market exposure for others. <\/p>\n

For now, BitcoinForCorporations\u2019 petition opposing the exclusion has gathered<\/a> over 1,000 signatures, while Bitwise Asset Management has also voiced<\/a> its support for the strategy, arguing \u201cthe power of a great index lies in its neutrality<\/em><\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

Financial Impact Analysis Reveals Concentrated Risk<\/span><\/h2>\n

Before now, JPMorgan analysts have previously estimated<\/a> that Strategy alone could face $2.8 billion in outflows, with $9 billion of its market capitalization held by passive funds. <\/p>\n

BitcoinForCorporations\u2019 analysis projects total forced selling between $10 billion and $15 billion, with tracking error ranging from 15 to 150 basis points, depending on volatility, particularly harmful to institutional mandates with 20 to 50 basis point tracking tolerances.<\/p>\n

\"MSCI
Source: BitcoinForCorporation<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The preliminary list includes 18 current constituents representing $98 billion in float-adjusted market capitalization facing immediate removal, accounting for 87% of total capital impact. <\/p>\n

An additional 21 non-constituents, worth $15 billion, face permanent exclusion, representing massive pre-emptive blocking in MSCI\u2019s methodology. Strategy accounts for 74.5% of the total impacted market cap at $84.1 billion.<\/p>\n

Implementation costs are estimated between $50 million and $225 million across index families, with turnover costs ranging from 5 to 25 basis points. The MSCI ACWI faces the highest estimated impact, ranging from $55 million to $225 million.<\/p>\n

\"MSCI
Source: BitcoinForCorporation<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Speaking with Cryptonews, Farzam Ehsani, Co-founder and CEO of VALR, explained that markets are pricing in potential forced flows. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe market is assessing not only the likelihood of a decline in stock prices of companies whose balance sheets are tied to Bitcoin\u2019s movements, but also potential chain reactions within funds using these indices as benchmarks,<\/em>\u201d Ehsani said. <\/p>\n

Affected companies collectively hold over $137 billion in digital assets.<\/p>\n

The industry awaits MSCI\u2019s January 15 decision. Strategy urged MSCI to reject the proposal, stating \u201cthe wiser course is for MSCI to remain neutral and let the markets decide the course of DATs.<\/em>\u201c<\/p>\n

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Crypto Journalist Anas Hassan Crypto Journalist Anas Hassan Part of the Team Since Jun 2025 About Author Anas is a crypto native journalist and SEO writer with over five years of writing experience covering blockchain, crypto, DeFi, and emerging tech. Last updated:\u00a0 December 18, 2025 MSCI\u2019s proposal to exclude digital asset treasury companies from its<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":878644,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2138,25269],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-878643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-changes","category-index"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=878643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/878644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}