MSCI may delist crypto-treasury firms, forcing $10–15B in passive sell-offs

MSCI is consulting on a policy to remove publicly traded companies whose balance sheets are majority cryptocurrency from its investable market indexes. The proposal targets firms that function more as ‘‘crypto-treasury’’ pools than operating businesses — most prominently MicroStrategy — and a preliminary list by BitcoinForCorporations identified 39 potentially affected companies with roughly $113bn combined market cap. Analysts estimate forced outflows from index-tracking passive funds of about $10–15bn if MSCI proceeds, with some estimates concentrated heavily in MicroStrategy (accounting for roughly three-quarters of impact in one scenario). MSCI’s rationale is that including such firms converts equity indexes into de facto crypto exposures rather than collections of operating companies. Affected firms and industry groups argue a single balance-sheet threshold (50% crypto assets) is arbitrary and ignores accounting regimes, business operations, revenue and jurisdictional differences. MicroStrategy formally objected, warning delisting would trigger substantial passive outflows and weaken US competitiveness in digital-asset innovation. MSCI plans a final decision by 15 January 2026 and possible implementation in the February 2026 index review. Traders should monitor the announcement closely: a delisting would likely force immediate selling by ETFs and mutual funds tied to MSCI benchmarks, intensifying near-term downside pressure on affected equities and potentially spilling into crypto markets. Risk-management steps — reducing exposure to crypto-treasury equities, hedging correlated crypto holdings (notably BTC), and preparing for short-term liquidity shocks — are advised until the policy outcome is clear.