MSCI Spares MicroStrategy — but the Market’s War Over Its Bitcoin Premium Remains
MSCI decided to keep MicroStrategy in its indexes for now, but the debate over its classification continues.Summary
MSCI announced it will not exclude Digital Asset Treasury Companies (DATCOs), like MicroStrategy, from its Global Investable Market Indexes during the February 2026 review, alleviating fears of immediate forced selling. However, MSCI plans a broader consultation on "non-operating companies," citing investor concerns that DATCOs resemble investment funds rather than operating businesses. While current DATCOs remain in indexes, MSCI imposed constraints, freezing their index footprint by deferring additions or size-segment migrations, thus limiting future passive inflows from new equity issuance. MicroStrategy and its executive chair, Michael Saylor, welcomed the decision. Critics, however, argue the ruling only postpones a reckoning, asserting that MicroStrategy functions as a leveraged Bitcoin ETF without GAAP earnings and should not be in corporate indexes. Furthermore, analysts noted that restrictions on share count adjustments remove a key tailwind from index rebalancing, keeping MicroStrategy's Bitcoin premium and its market classification under intense scrutiny.
(Source：BeInCrypto)