Bitcoin For Firms (BFC), in coordination with its member firms, formally challenged MSCI’s proposed rule to exclude firms from the MSCI International Investable Market Indexes if digital property characterize 50% or extra of complete property.
The rule would apply to firms whose main enterprise is assessed as digital-asset treasury exercise.
BFC argues the proposal misclassifies working firms by prioritizing balance-sheet holdings over precise enterprise operations.
“MSCI has lengthy outlined firms by what they do, not by what they maintain. This proposal abandons that precept for a single asset class,” stated George Mekhail, managing director of BFC. “A shareholder-approved treasury determination shouldn’t override that actuality.”
The coalition recognized three structural points with the proposal. First, it redefines main enterprise based mostly on asset composition moderately than revenue-generating operations. Second, it singles out digital property whereas different asset courses face no comparable therapy.
Third, it ties index inclusion to risky market costs, creating unpredictable membership modifications.
BFC warned that the proposal may result in passive fund outflows, greater capital prices, and elevated volatility for firms, all unrelated to operational efficiency.
The group urged MSCI to withdraw the brink, keep an operations-based classification, guarantee asset-class neutrality, and interact with market contributors on a business-aligned framework.
Attempt echoes the sentiment
Attempt Asset Administration, co-founded by Vivek Ramaswamy, additionally formally urged MSCI final week to rethink its proposal to exclude firms with bitcoin holdings exceeding 50% of complete property from main fairness benchmarks.
In a letter to MSCI CEO Henry Fernandez, Attempt warned that the rule may produce inconsistent outcomes because of differing accounting requirements underneath U.S. GAAP and IFRS.
Attempt, the 14th-largest company bitcoin holder with over 7,500 BTC, argued that the 50% threshold is “unjustified, overbroad, and unworkable.” Its executives highlighted that many bitcoin treasury firms function actual companies in sectors akin to AI knowledge facilities, structured finance, and cloud infrastructure.
They in contrast the proposed therapy of bitcoin to different property, noting that power firms with giant oil reserves or gold miners are usually not excluded from indexes.
The agency additionally cited market volatility, derivatives publicity, and accounting variations as components that might make index inclusion unpredictable.
Attempt warned that strict guidelines may drive innovation overseas, giving worldwide companies a aggressive benefit.
MSCI plans to announce its determination on January 15, 2026. Attempt’s intervention reinforces the broader trade name for operations-based classification, asset-class neutrality, and honest therapy of firms holding important bitcoin as a part of their treasury technique.
MSCI may exclude Technique
Maybe the corporate most affected by this could be Technique, the tech- and Bitcoin-focused software program firm well-known for its daring Bitcoin reserve technique. Technique and Chairman Michael Saylor recently pushed again in opposition to considerations that MSCI could exclude the corporate from main fairness indices, which analysts warn may set off billions in passive outflows.
Saylor emphasised that Technique will not be a fund or holding firm however an working enterprise with a $500 million software program division and a $7.7 billion Bitcoin-backed credit score program.
He highlighted merchandise like Stretch ($STRC), a Bitcoin-backed credit score instrument, and burdened that Technique actively creates, constructions, and operates monetary merchandise moderately than passively holding property.
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