MSCI tạm hoãn loại bỏ các công ty nắm giữ nhiều Bitcoin: Cuộc chơi giữa tài chính truyền thống và tài sản mã hóa

On the evening of January 6, 2026, MSCI (Morgan Stanley Capital International), a giant in index compilation, released an announcement deciding to temporarily not implement the proposal to remove Digital Asset Treasury companies (DATs) from its Global Investable Market Index (GIMI) during the February 2026 review.

This means that companies represented by MicroStrategy (renamed to Strategy), which were placed on a watchlist due to holding large amounts of digital assets such as Bitcoin, have temporarily retained their positions in mainstream financial indices. This decision avoided a potential massive withdrawal of passive funds of 9 to 15 billion dollars, giving the market some breathing room.

Decision Background

MSCI’s decision was not an isolated event, but rather the result of a consultation process full of strategic negotiations. The origins of this negotiation can be traced back to October 2025, when MSCI released a market-shaking preliminary proposal. The core content of the proposal was to exclude companies with digital asset holdings exceeding 50% of total assets from its flagship Global Investable Market Index. The logic behind the proposal was that MSCI believed these companies’ characteristics were more similar to investment funds rather than traditional operating enterprises, which conflicted with the index’s positioning to reflect “performance of investable operating enterprises.”

The market consultation window remained open until the end of 2025, during which intense industry discussions and backlash occurred. Companies represented by Strategy countered through public letters, precisely pointing out the multiple paradoxes the proposal faced in practical implementation, and questioned whether it might involve double standards.

Deferral and Restrictions

Faced with strong market feedback and complex real-world situations, MSCI ultimately made a “deferral of implementation” decision in January 2026. This decision can be viewed as a cautious compromise by the traditional financial system in accepting emerging digital assets. However, MSCI’s “green light” is not unconditional. While announcing the deferral of removal, MSCI also announced a series of restrictive measures to ensure these companies’ influence in the index does not expand disorderly during this period.

Most importantly, MSCI will “freeze” all “size-segment migrations” for such companies. This means that even if a company’s market value reaches large-cap standards due to Bitcoin price increases, it can only remain in its original index category.

Additionally, MSCI explicitly stated it will temporarily not accept new companies of this type into the index. This indicates that MSCI is buying time to develop a more scientific and comprehensive universal standard covering all “investment-type companies.”

To visually demonstrate this change, the following table summarizes the core points from the proposal to the final deferral:

Market Reaction and Impact

Following MSCI’s decision announcement, the market responded immediately and positively. As the most focused point of this event, Strategy (MSTR) stock price surged 6.6% in after-hours trading. This increase not only directly responded to the temporary relief of removal risk, but also partially offset the stock price pressure the company recently endured from weakened market confidence in its aggressive Bitcoin strategy. The most direct short-term benefit of the decision was eliminating the “Sword of Damocles” hanging over these companies’ heads—forced large-scale withdrawals of passive funds. According to analyst estimates, Strategy alone could face MSCI-related passive fund outflows of approximately 2.8 billion dollars.

If other index providers follow suit, the total outflow could reach 8 to 9 billion dollars. This risk is temporarily eliminated, providing critical liquidity buffers for relevant individual stocks.

From a broader crypto market perspective, Bitcoin price demonstrated resilience before and after the decision. According to Gate market data, following the decision announcement, BTC traded near the 91,000 dollar level.

Long-term Industry Competition

MSCI’s “deferral” decision is far from the end of the story, but rather marks the competition between traditional finance and crypto assets entering deeper waters. A key but easily overlooked expression in the announcement is that MSCI plans to launch a “broader consultation” to comprehensively review how “non-operating enterprises” across all industries are handled in indices. This definition not only includes companies holding digital assets but may also cover enterprises holding large amounts of other non-operating assets (such as natural resources, real estate, etc.). This indicates MSCI’s intention to establish a universal, systematic new standard, rather than merely targeting crypto assets.

For the digital asset industry, this event exposed a core contradiction: in the digital economy era, corporate business models are rapidly evolving. Is holding digital assets as a core part of the balance sheet a cutting-edge treasury management strategy, or a non-core business that should be classified as an “investment fund”? MSCI’s exploration is essentially setting a framework for how global financial infrastructure defines and classifies this emerging phenomenon.

Integration Trend

Regardless of how the final classification rules are formulated, one irreversible trend is that digital assets are increasingly deeply integrating into global mainstream enterprises’ balance sheets and financial strategies. Strategy currently holds over 673,000 Bitcoin, with a total value exceeding 60 billion dollars. This wave of corporate-level adoption led by listed companies has become an indispensable institutional demand-side force for mainstream crypto assets like Bitcoin.

From an investment channel perspective, this event may accelerate structural shifts in institutional capital flows. Over the past year, regulated spot Bitcoin ETFs have risen rapidly, providing institutions with purer and more convenient Bitcoin exposure tools.

Uncertainty about MSCI index inclusion may prompt some funds seeking stable, transparent Bitcoin exposure to shift from more volatile “Bitcoin treasury stocks” to regulated ETF products, further solidifying Bitcoin’s leading position in institutional adoption.

This is not merely about whether one company remains in a particular index, but rather concerns how the global financial system recognizes, evaluates, and ultimately absorbs this new asset class represented by Bitcoin and other digital assets.

Strategy stock price jumped following the decision announcement, while Bitcoin price remained above the 91,000 dollar level seeking direction. Market traders responded divergently to MSCI’s decision, both relieved about the temporary removal of short-term risk and harboring doubts about stricter future rules. In the Global Investable Market Index, the numerical weight representing digital asset treasury companies is temporarily frozen, but the debate over their future status is far from over.