MSCI removes Strategy and Metaplanet from its indexes after Nov. 30

MSCI will delete Strategy (MSTR) and Metaplanet from its equity indexes as of the close on Nov. 30, the index provider confirmed in its November 2026 review published Wednesday. Funds that track the affected benchmarks will have to sell the shares, and the biggest corporate bitcoin buyer loses a steady source of passive demand.

Why the screen caught bitcoin treasury firms

The removals come from MSCI's new rule for "non-operating companies," adopted on Oct. 15. In its consultation result on msci.com, MSCI says it first checks whether an issuer has substantial operating assets. A company that fails that test is then measured on five financial ratios, and it becomes ineligible if it is flagged on four or more.

Existing members are removed only if they fail the screen in each of their two most recent annual filing periods. The same notice said the interim measures from October 2025, which froze share-count increases for companies holding 50% or more of their assets in digital assets, end with this review.

Strategy drops out of the MSCI USA Index, and Metaplanet leaves the MSCI Japan Small Cap Index, The Block reported, adding that MSCI's documents gave no company-specific reasons. Cointelegraph reported that Upexi is also marked for deletion, while ether treasury firm Sharplink was left on a watchlist rather than removed.

How much selling is at stake

Estimates differ by a wide margin. JPMorgan analysts calculated in November 2025 that an MSCI exclusion could drive about $2.8 billion in passive outflows, and up to $8.8 billion if other index providers followed. That figure was built on MSCI's earlier, crypto-specific proposal, not the rules adopted this autumn.

Strategy's own number is smaller. In its consultation response, the company said MSCI-linked funds hold about 13 million of its shares, or 3.1% of basic shares outstanding and less than one day's trading volume. CoinDesk put that stake at roughly $1.6 billion at Wednesday's prices.

The deletion does not delist MSTR and does not force Strategy to sell any bitcoin. The pressure lands on the funding side. Strategy funds its bitcoin buying with stock sales, and its latest bitcoin purchase and STRC buyback were both paid for by selling MSTR shares. Index funds have been reliable holders of that stock, and fewer automatic buyers can make each new share sale harder to place without a discount.

Other treasury companies face the same math. Metaplanet has tied its growth to equity raises toward its bitcoin target, while MARA's treasury policy change this year opened the door to selling coins instead of only stacking them.

The market reaction so far has been modest. MSTR fell 2.6% to $119.06 in after-hours trading on Wednesday, according to The Block, while Metaplanet had closed down 2.53% at 231 yen in Tokyo before the list came out. Strategy held 850,364 BTC at the time of CoinDesk's report.