The danger of a significant forced sell-off in crypto-related equities has been avoided, but with a structural twist that changes the dynamics of the “Bitcoin Treasury” trade. In a recent announcement, MSCI Inc., the leading benchmark provider for global equity and ETF markets, decided to retain “Digital Asset Treasury Companies” (DATCOs) in its global indices for the February 2026 review, preventing firms like Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) from being removed.
While this news was welcomed by Strategy’s executive chairman, Michael Saylor, MSCI also introduced a technical freeze on share counts for these companies. This means that MSCI will not implement increases to the Number of Shares, Foreign Inclusion Factor, or Domestic Inclusion Factor for these securities, effectively breaking the link between new equity issuance and automatic passive buying.
The immediate market response was a surge in Strategy’s stock price by over 6%, as the threat of a massive liquidity event was no longer looming. JPMorgan estimated that a full exclusion could have triggered billions in passive selling of Strategy’s stock, leading to a price crash and forced liquidation of Bitcoin holdings.
However, the removal of the exclusion threat hides a new reality where the automatic demand for these stocks is gone. Previously, when Strategy issued new shares for Bitcoin acquisitions, passive funds tracking the index would be compelled to buy a portion of the new issuance. But with MSCI’s new freeze policy, this mechanism is broken, creating a challenge for Strategy and its peers to find buyers for new shares.
Market analysts are now focusing on quantifying the liquidity gap created by this shift. Bull Theory, a crypto research firm, highlighted how Strategy and other treasury companies will now have to rely on private buyers, discounts, or raising less money in the absence of passive support.
MSCI’s decision not only impacts the affected companies but also alters the competitive landscape in the asset management sector. By freezing the index weighting of DATCOs, the new rule hampers their ability to scale efficiently via equity markets, potentially driving large allocators towards Bitcoin ETFs instead.
In conclusion, MSCI’s move may have unintentionally favored traditional asset management products by neutralizing the treasury strategy’s “flywheel” effect. This shift poses a significant challenge for Strategy and other treasury companies that heavily rely on passive support for their equity issuance.
