MSCI Strategy Metaplanet: Firms Face Potential Index Removal

MSCI Strategy Metaplanet Face Potential Index Removal Risk 

Two of the world's best-known Bitcoin treasury companies are facing potential index eligibility risks after MSCI Strategy Metaplanet proposed new rules for companies classified as non-operating. Strategy and Metaplanet are among the companies identified in MSCI's proposed screening analysis.

Source: WuBlockchain on X

MSCI, the index provider whose benchmarks quietly steer trillions of dollars in passive investment, has opened a consultation that could kick both Strategy and Metaplanet out of its global stock indexes. 

The MSCI Strategy Metaplanet story centers on a new proposal to define certain firms as "non-operating companies," a label that would make them ineligible for inclusion, according to MSCI's official consultation document, published this August.

And the numbers behind it aren't hypothetical. MSCI already ran the test.

The Rule Change, in Plain Terms

Here's the idea driving all of this. The index provider wants to formally define "Non-Operating Companies" and shut them out of its indexes entirely. 

That category already covers investment funds and business development companies, excluded today simply because of their legal structure. 

What's new is a second bucket: ordinary corporate issuers that behave the same way financially, caught not by their paperwork but by running their numbers through a set of quantitative screens.

What does "behaving like a fund" actually mean? MSCI's own description is specific: companie that build value mainly by holding real-world assets rather than running a business, generate little cash from actual operations, move with the market rather than with revenue, and lean on outside capital to keep growing instead of their own earnings.

How a Company Actually Gets Caught

The screening process runs in two rounds, and it's stricter than it first sounds.

Round one is the Core Screen. If a company's operating assets make up more than half of its total assets, it passes immediately, no further questions. 

Fall short of that, though, and the company moves to round two: an Exclusion The screen is built from five separate financial ratios, covering operating asset intensity, expense intensity, cash flow, fair value intensity, and capital dependence. Trip four out of those five, and the company is out.

There's a safety net built in too, so the rule doesn't punish a single rough quarter. Firms not currently in the benchmark only need to fail once, based on their latest filing, to stay excluded. 

Companies already sitting inside the index get more breathing room: they'd need to fail the same tests across two consecutive annual filings before actually being removed.

The Test Already Ran, and Here's Who Failed

This is where the story stops being theoretical. MSCI applied its proposed screen to the ACWI IMI Index using data through May 2026, and three companies came back as straight deletions:

It's not a coincidence that Strategy and Metaplanet both landed here. 

Source: MSCI official consultation  

Both are best known for holding large Bitcoin treasuries rather than running a conventional operating business, exactly the profile MSCI's new screen is built to catch. 

That's the whole MSCI Strategy Metaplanet connection in a nutshell: two crypto-forward companies, caught by a rule that was never written specifically about crypto at all.

Three More Companies Are on Notice

Deletion isn't the only outcome here. Three additional firms failed badly enough to land on a newly proposed public watchlist, one step short of removal: Center Laboratories in Taiwan ($673M), Lydia Holding in Turkey ($319M), and SharpLink in the United States ($165M).

Under the proposal, a watchlisted company only gets removed if it fails the same screen again the following year, a warning shot rather than an immediate exit.

What Happens Between Now and November

Nothing here is final yet, and MSCI has been careful to say so. Feedback from market participants stays open through September 30, 2026. 

Results are expected on or before October 16, 2026, and the index provider has explicitly noted the outcome may or may not lead to any actual changes. 

If it does move forward, the plan is to roll changes into the November 2026 Index Review. Until then, the MSCI Strategy Metaplanet situation remains exactly what it is right now: a live proposal with real numbers already attached, not a confirmed removal. 

Both companies keep their current index status for now, but the clock on that consultation window is already running.

Disclaimer

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Cryptocurrency and crypto-related stocks can be highly volatile, and index methodology changes may affect market prices and investor sentiment.