Strive Challenges MSCI Proposal to Exclude Crypto Treasuries

Strive, one of the largest Bitcoin treasuries, has pushed back against MSCI's proposal to exclude crypto treasuries from its global index. In a recent statement, Strive acknowledged that the 2026 framework is an improvement over the previous 2025 version, but argued that MSCI has yet to provide a clear rule for determining which companies should be excluded.

The current proposal asks whether a public corporation ceases to be an operating company and becomes an investment vehicle. Strive believes that this question is being asked in the right direction, but wants MSCI to define what constitutes an 'operating asset.'

Strive's digital credit products, which are tied to its massive BTC reserves, use balance sheet assets as inputs and produce differentiated financial claims with payment and risk characteristics. The firm argues that this fits the profile of an operating company.