Michael Saylor Challenges MSCI Plan to Exclude Crypto-Heavy Firms from Indexes

Published: 2025-12-10 19:56:22 |

Michael Saylor, executive chairman of MicroStrategy, has formally challenged MSCI’s draft rule that would exclude companies whose digital-asset treasuries (DATs) account for 50% or more of total assets from MSCI’s Global Investable Market Indexes. In a detailed 12-page letter co-signed by CEO Phong Le, Saylor argues the threshold is arbitrary, discriminatory and misclassifies operating companies with large Bitcoin treasuries as passive funds. MicroStrategy — whose Bitcoin holdings (~$61 billion) represent more than 85% of its enterprise value — warns exclusion would inject policy bias into index construction, reduce investor exposure to crypto infrastructure builders and harm US leadership in crypto innovation. Saylor has urged the crypto community to support the appeal, seeking to influence index-provider policy that could alter passive flows and index inclusion for DATs. Key keywords: MicroStrategy, Michael Saylor, MSCI, digital-asset treasury, crypto indexes, Bitcoin.

Neutral

The proposal targets index inclusion rules rather than immediate legal or market action against Bitcoin itself, so direct price impact on BTC is likely limited in the short term. However, if MSCI finalizes a 50% DAT exclusion and other index providers follow, passive flows into DAT-heavy equities could be removed, reducing a structural demand channel for Bitcoin exposure embedded in public equities (not direct spot flows). MicroStrategy’s public push and community mobilization increase the chance of policy pushback, which could prevent or delay any index exclusions. Short-term trading: heightened volatility in MicroStrategy stock (MSTR) and related DAT equities as investors react to news and lobbying updates. Medium-to-long term: if exclusions were enforced and copied broadly, reduced indirect institutional demand via equities could be modestly bearish for BTC over time; conversely, successful appeals or policy reversals would be neutral-to-bullish by preserving a channel for crypto exposure. Overall, the immediate net effect on BTC price is neutral, while equity-level impacts (MSTR) are more pronounced and binary depending on index decisions.