Crypto Treasury Firms Face Reckoning as MSCI Proposes New Classification Rules

MSCI's latest proposal has sent shockwaves through the crypto market as it threatens to reclassify several crypto treasury companies from its major global indexes. The new financial test aims to identify 'Non-Operating Companies' by applying a five-part screen that targets asset, cash flow, and capital reliance metrics.

The framework replaces an earlier threshold that specifically targeted digital-asset holdings with a broader set of ratios applied to any company holding non-operating assets. MSCI's consultation paper suggests that at least three firms, including Strategy and Yellow Cake PLC, face deletion from the ACWI IMI Index if the new methodology is adopted.

SharpLink, an Ethereum treasury firm, has been placed on a watchlist rather than being immediately deleted. However, its placement sets up a test case for how staking-based treasury models are treated versus pure accumulation strategies. Other companies in the sector are likely watching the outcome as a template for restructuring their own operations.

The proposal effectively forces a distinction between companies using crypto as a treasury asset alongside an operating business and those that accumulate crypto financed by outside capital. If adopted, the change would carry real consequences beyond classification, including index inclusion driving passive fund flows and exclusion leading to outflows from funds tracking MSCI's benchmarks.