Index provider MSCI will remove Strategy, Metaplanet, and Yellow Cake from its global indexes after classifying the three companies as non-operating businesses whose holdings resemble those of investment funds. The changes take effect after the market close on November 30, with the removals set for December 1 and paving the way for passive selling by funds that track the affected benchmarks. The decision underscores how index eligibility has become a structural consideration for a widening group of listed companies whose main assets are digital token holdings rather than operating businesses.

According to a Reuters report, MSCI reached its decision after reviewing companies with fund-like characteristics. Strategy, the Bitcoin treasury company formerly known as MicroStrategy, will leave the MSCI USA Index, while Metaplanet will exit the Japan Small Cap Index. Yellow Cake, a UK-based uranium investment company, also faces removal. The classification matters because benchmark providers apply different eligibility standards to operating companies than to investment-style vehicles, which in turn determines which pools of passive capital can hold a given stock.

Billions in Potential Passive Outflows

Index-tracking funds generally sell shares of companies removed from their benchmarks and redirect capital toward eligible constituents, although fund managers may adjust their positions over time rather than sell immediately.

JPMorgan has estimated that Strategy could face as much as $8.8 billion in outflows if other index providers adopt similar exclusion rules. Strategy previously warned that exclusion could trigger approximately $2.8 billion in stock sales. A company filing showed that passive funds tracking MSCI indexes held nearly $3 billion in MSTR shares, representing more than 3% of Strategy's outstanding stock.

Reuters reported that Strategy shares fell 2.5% in after-hours trading following the announcement.

MSCI's Expanding Review

The decision follows a review that MSCI broadened in recent months. The index provider previously proposed excluding digital asset treasury companies holding investments worth at least 50% of total assets, and later expanded the scope to cover non-operating companies. The criteria reach a cohort of publicly listed treasury firms that hold Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other digital assets on their balance sheets.

Ethereum treasury firm SharpLink appeared on MSCI's watchlist but survived the November small-cap review. Cypherpunk and DeFi Dev Corp. also appeared on the earlier watchlist. The December 1 removals offer the first concrete checkpoint for how the new criteria translate into actual fund flows, while the broader impact hinges on whether other index providers adopt matching rules — the condition underlying JPMorgan's larger estimate.

Strategy and Metaplanet Challenged the New Criteria

Strategy, led by Michael Saylor, uses debt and equity issuance to finance Bitcoin purchases. Metaplanet also operates a Bitcoin treasury strategy.

The proposal drew public pushback before MSCI finalized its approach. Strategy executives Michael Saylor and Phong Le previously criticized MSCI's proposed changes as discriminatory. In a September letter, the company argued that excluding digital asset treasury firms would undermine MSCI's neutrality. The dispute turns on a broader classification question for index providers: how to treat companies whose primary activity is holding assets rather than running operations.

Strategy, Metaplanet, and Yellow Cake did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.