MSCI makes it final: the rules that could throw Strategy and Metaplanet out of the world's benchmark indexes take effect November 30, with the list of casualties due November 11

MSCI has decided. The index provider said on Thursday that it will put in place the rules it floated in August, under which companies that look more like investment funds than operating businesses lose their place in its Global Investable Market Indexes, its flagship global equity benchmarks. The change takes effect with the November 2026 index review, as of the close of November 30.

The test has two stages. A core screen asks whether an issuer has substantial operating assets. Those that fail are measured against five financial ratios, and a stock flagged on at least four of the five is ineligible. MSCI added buffers to both the thresholds and the timing of additions and removals to limit turnover. Companies already in the indexes are removed only if they fail the screen in each of their two most recent annual filing periods, while outsiders are barred if they fail in either. MSCI will publish the final list of affected companies on November 11, alongside its November review.

The Block reported that Strategy and Metaplanet are at risk, and CoinGape said MSCI's own simulation showed the two facing removal, with Bitmine, Upexi, Cypherpunk Technologies and DeFi Development on a watchlist. The rules replace interim measures from October 2025 that froze share-count increases for companies whose digital assets made up at least half of their total assets. Strategy's executives called the proposal "discriminatory" earlier this year, The Block reported, and the company said in a September letter it would have no meaningful effect on its business. The answer for every treasury company arrives on November 11.