Index provider faces pressure as critics warn the proposal could distort passive investing and sideline rapidly growing tech sectors
Strive, one of the largest publicly traded firms holding bitcoin on its balance sheet, has called on global index provider MSCI to reconsider a proposal that would exclude companies whose digital asset holdings exceed 50% of total assets. The firm warned that the approach would create distortions in passive investment strategies and overlook key developments across the digital asset and artificial-intelligence infrastructure sectors.
Concerns Over Reduced Market Exposure
In a letter to MSCI leadership, Strive argued that a hard threshold for bitcoin exposure would limit investor access to high-growth industries, including firms whose business models now extend far beyond digital asset holdings. Analysts have previously cautioned that the proposed change could trigger multi-billion-dollar outflows for affected companies, creating ripple effects across equity markets and index-tracking funds.
Strive highlighted that large bitcoin-treasury firms and miners are accelerating investments in AI-focused data-center infrastructure, positioning themselves at the intersection of two fast-expanding markets. Excluding them, the firm said, would restrict investors from participating in these innovations.
Impact on Bitcoin-Linked Financial Products
The proposal would also influence companies offering structured products tied to bitcoin’s performance, a segment growing in parallel with traditional notes provided by major financial institutions. Strive said penalizing firms for holding bitcoin while they compete with established banks would create an asymmetric market environment, raising capital costs for companies at the forefront of digital-asset finance.
Volatility Makes a Fixed Threshold Impractical
Strive warned that linking index eligibility to a fluctuating asset would create constant “in-and-out” index movement, increasing tracking errors and operational burdens. Determining when asset holdings cross the 50% mark is also becoming more complex as companies adopt derivatives, ETFs, and varied exposure mechanisms.
The firm noted examples such as Trump Media, whose holdings narrowly avoided the preliminary exclusion list due to exposure structured through financial instruments rather than direct spot holdings.
As a solution, Strive urged MSCI to introduce an “ex-digital asset treasury” version of its existing benchmarks. This would allow investors who wish to avoid bitcoin-heavy firms to opt into a filtered index without altering the composition of standard equity indices.
Strive said the objective should be to let the market decide, rather than impose exclusions that risk misrepresenting the investable universe at a time when digital-asset strategies and AI-oriented infrastructure continue to converge.
Disclaimer
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