On Wednesday, index compilation agency MSCIAnnounce As a result of the November quarterly index adjustment, American Bitcoin reserve company Strategy and Japanese company Metaplanet were officially removed from the list of constituent stocks. This index adjustment will officially take effect after the market closes on November 30, ending months of market discussion on the eligibility of the cryptocurrency reserve company index. Affected by this news and market expectations, Strategy (MSTR) shares fell 2% to around $120 after hours, while Metaplanet (3350.T) also fell 1.3% to 228 yen when the Tokyo stock market opened on Thursday. This move reflects that mainstream international index compilation agencies are becoming more stringent in the inclusion criteria for "non-operating companies" and will have a structural impact on listed companies whose core strategy is to hold large amounts of crypto assets.

MSCI officially removes Strategy and Metaplanet from the index

According to documents released by MSCI, Strategy will be removed from the MSCI USA Index, while Metaplanet will be removed from the MSCI Japan Small Cap Index. The relevant changes will take effect after the market closes on November 30. Since MSCI passed new qualification review standards for non-operating companies in October, the market has mostly expected this wave of removals from the list. In terms of stock price performance, Strategy common stock (MSTR) fell about 2% in after-hours trading on Wednesday, trading at around $120, while Metaplanet fell 1.3% to 228 yen at the opening of the Tokyo stock market on Thursday. Additionally, Ethereum reserve Sharplink does not appear on the delisting list of this November small-cap review.

New rules and screening criteria for review of non-operating companies

The core basis for MSCI's adjustment stems from the new qualification review rules for "non-operating companies" that it officially adopted last month, which replaced the previous temporary restrictions on "companies with more than 50% of cryptocurrency assets." According to the new specifications, MSCI no longer only uses a single asset ratio as the threshold, but comprehensively evaluates the company's operating assets (Operating assets) and 5 financial indicators for screening. MSCI has clearly stated that if index constituents fail to pass the screening of this financial and operational indicator in the last two annual reporting periods, they will face removal from the index, indicating that index institutions are committed to distinguishing entity operating companies from asset-holding companies.

Corporate stance and index neutrality controversy

In response to the disqualification of the index, Strategy Chairman Michael Saylor and CEO Phong Le had previously publicly opposed the rule revision and criticized MSCI's standards for treating digital asset reserve companies as "discriminatory." Strategy argued in a letter submitted in September that being removed from the index would not have a material impact on the company's actual business operations, but could instead damage MSCI's market reputation as a neutral index provider. However, in the quarterly review document released this time, MSCI did not provide specific text explanations for individual companies that were removed, and only implemented constituent adjustments in accordance with the established review mechanism.

this article MSCI’s new rules are on the way, and Bitcoin reserve companies Strategy and Metaplanet have been delisted first appeared in Chain News ABMedia。