Bitcoin Industry Effort Calls for Withdrawal of ≥50% Digital-Asset Threshold in Index Classification
Nashville, TN — December 8, 2025 — Bitcoin For Corporations (BFC), in coordination with its member companies and other affected public organizations, today announced a formal industry challenge to MSCI’s proposed ≥50% digital-asset exclusion under its consultation on “Digital Asset Treasury Companies” (DAT).
Under the proposal, MSCI would exclude certain listed operating companies from the MSCI Global Investable Market Indexes (GIMI) if digital assets represent 50% or more of total assets and if their primary business is characterized as digital-asset treasury activity. BFC and its member companies are calling on MSCI to withdraw the proposed threshold and engage instead on a neutral, operations-based classification framework.
“MSCI has long defined companies by what they do, not by what they hold. This proposal abandons that principle for a single asset class. Our member companies operate real businesses with employees, customers, and revenue. A shareholder-approved treasury decision shouldn’t override that reality.” - George Mekhail, Managing Director of Bitcoin For Corporations
The BFC-led initiative brings together public company executives, corporate treasurers, and shareholders at companies directly affected by the proposal. Many of these companies operate revenue-generating businesses while holding Bitcoin as part of a long-term treasury strategy.
Three Structural Flaws in the Proposal
In its formal submission to MSCI’s Index Policy Committee, BFC and its member companies identify three core structural flaws that materially distort corporate classification and index construction.
1. Redefining “Primary Business” Away From Operations
Under long-standing classification practice, a company’s primary business is defined by its operations—the activities that generate revenue and earnings. MSCI’s proposal departs from this precedent by allowing a single balance-sheet item to override operating reality.
This would allow the market value of digital assets to supplant employees, products, customers, and revenue as the defining feature of a company’s business. As a result, operating companies could be recharacterized as fund-like entities solely due to treasury composition, despite no change in their underlying business model.
Under long-standing classification practice, a company’s primary business is defined by its operations—the activities that generate revenue and earnings. MSCI’s proposal departs from this precedent by allowing a single balance-sheet item to override operating reality.
This would allow the market value of digital assets to supplant employees, products, customers, and revenue as the defining feature of a company’s business. As a result, operating companies could be recharacterized as fund-like entities solely due to treasury composition, despite no change in their underlying business model.
2. Selectively Singling Out One Asset Class
The proposal applies exclusively to digital assets. Companies holding more than 50% of assets in cash, real estate, commodities, equities, or even goodwill face no equivalent reclassification risk.
By applying a unique exclusion rule to a single asset class, the proposal creates an explicitly non-neutral benchmark. This introduces structural bias into index construction by treating one treasury asset as fundamentally disqualifying while permitting all others.
The proposal applies exclusively to digital assets. Companies holding more than 50% of assets in cash, real estate, commodities, equities, or even goodwill face no equivalent reclassification risk.
By applying a unique exclusion rule to a single asset class, the proposal creates an explicitly non-neutral benchmark. This introduces structural bias into index construction by treating one treasury asset as fundamentally disqualifying while permitting all others.
3. Creating Unpredictable and Volatile Index Composition
Because the ≥50% threshold is tied to the market price of a volatile asset, index membership would become unstable by design. A company could cross the inclusion or exclusion boundary due solely to price movements in Bitcoin—without any operational change, capital restructuring, or shift in business strategy.
This creates forced turnover for index-tracking funds, increases implementation costs, introduces unnecessary trading activity, and degrades the index’s role as a stable market benchmark. It also exposes public companies to mechanical inclusion and exclusion events entirely disconnected from business performance.
Because the ≥50% threshold is tied to the market price of a volatile asset, index membership would become unstable by design. A company could cross the inclusion or exclusion boundary due solely to price movements in Bitcoin—without any operational change, capital restructuring, or shift in business strategy.
This creates forced turnover for index-tracking funds, increases implementation costs, introduces unnecessary trading activity, and degrades the index’s role as a stable market benchmark. It also exposes public companies to mechanical inclusion and exclusion events entirely disconnected from business performance.
Direct Impact on Public Companies
Taken together, these structural issues create serious downstream consequences for listed companies:
- Artificial reclassification risk unrelated to business operations
- Passive fund outflows caused by index rule mechanics rather than fundamentals
- Higher capital costs due to benchmark exclusionIncreased volatility driven by external price signals rather than operating performance
- Structural penalties imposed on shareholder-approved treasury strategies
BFC and its member companies maintain that legal status and regulatory treatment—not balance-sheet asset mix—should remain the defining line between operating companies and investment funds.
If MSCI intends to modify how “primary business” is defined, the coalition asserts that such a framework must apply consistently across all asset classes rather than singling out digital assets as uniquely disqualifying.
- Artificial reclassification risk unrelated to business operations
- Passive fund outflows caused by index rule mechanics rather than fundamentals
- Higher capital costs due to benchmark exclusionIncreased volatility driven by external price signals rather than operating performance
- Structural penalties imposed on shareholder-approved treasury strategies
BFC and its member companies maintain that legal status and regulatory treatment—not balance-sheet asset mix—should remain the defining line between operating companies and investment funds.
If MSCI intends to modify how “primary business” is defined, the coalition asserts that such a framework must apply consistently across all asset classes rather than singling out digital assets as uniquely disqualifying.
Formal Request to MSCI
Bitcoin For Corporations and its affected member companies are formally requesting that MSCI:
- Withdraw the proposed ≥50% digital-asset exclusion
- Preserve the operations-based definition of primary business
- Maintain asset-class neutrality in index construction
- Engage with public issuers and market participants on a multi-factor, business-aligned classification framework
Organizations and individual investors may review the full position letter and add their signatures at: http://msci.bitcoinforcorporations.com/
- Withdraw the proposed ≥50% digital-asset exclusion
- Preserve the operations-based definition of primary business
- Maintain asset-class neutrality in index construction
- Engage with public issuers and market participants on a multi-factor, business-aligned classification framework
Organizations and individual investors may review the full position letter and add their signatures at: http://msci.bitcoinforcorporations.com/
About Bitcoin For Corporations
Bitcoin For Corporations is an executive education and advisory network focused on helping public and private companies understand, evaluate, and implement Bitcoin treasury strategies. The organization provides research, tools, and peer collaboration to support responsible corporate capital strategy.