Strive urges MSCI to ‘let the market decide’ on Bitcoin treasury companies

Strive, a Nasdaq-listed structured finance company that ranks among the world’s largest public bitcoin treasuries, has urged MSCI to reconsider a proposal that would bar bitcoin-heavy firms from major equity benchmarks.

In a letter sent this week to MSCI CEO Henry Fernandez, Strive said the exclusion would "depart from index neutrality" and asked the index provider to "let the market decide" how to treat companies whose bitcoin holdings make up a large share of their balance sheets.

Strive currently holds more than 7,500 BTC, placing it 14th among public corporate bitcoin holders, according to its disclosures. The firm said that its position gives it insight into how bitcoin-reserve companies operate and why a hard exclusion rule would be misguided.

The letter was penned in response to MSCI weighing whether to remove companies whose digital-asset holdings exceed 50% of total assets, a policy change that could affect Strategy, the largest public bitcoin holder with 650,000 BTC. JPMorgan estimated that the firm could face roughly $2.8 billion in passive outflows if MSCI drops it, with the total rising to $8.8 billion if other index providers follow.

Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan said the potential impact is likely already reflected in Strategy’s share price and argued that nothing about MSCI’s decision would force the company to sell its bitcoin. MSCI is set to announce its decision on Jan. 15, 2026, ahead of the February index review.

Strive's own stock (ticker ASST) has been volatile since unveiling its bitcoin treasury strategy through a reverse merger earlier this year. Shares climbed from about $0.60 in May to more than $13 after the deal was announced, but have since fallen back below $1.

Neutrality vs. exclusion

Strive’s letter primarily focused on MSCI’s methodology.

The firm argued that the 50% threshold is "unjustified, overbroad and unworkable," noting that many large bitcoin-treasury companies operate real businesses in sectors such as AI data-center infrastructure and structured finance.

The category includes MARA, Riot, Hut 8, and CleanSpark — miners that are pivoting into renting excess power and compute to cloud and hyperscale clients as secondary revenue sources.

"Index providers do not exclude energy companies whose oil reserves dominate their balance sheets, or gold miners whose value depends largely on the metal they extract," the letter said. Creating a digital-asset-specific rule, it argued, would hard-code an investment judgment into benchmarks that are meant to be neutral.

Strive also warned that the proposal could create inconsistent outcomes across jurisdictions. Under U.S. GAAP, companies must mark digital assets to fair value each quarter, while issuers reporting under IFRS can hold them at cost. As a result, two companies with identical bitcoin exposure could be treated differently.

Instead of redefining eligibility for broad indices, Strive encouraged MSCI to offer optional "ex-digital-asset treasury" variants for clients that want to exclude the category. MSCI already uses this approach in other areas, offering “ex-energy,” “ex-tobacco,” and similar screened versions of its core indexes.