The Bitcoin Policy Institute is urging the U.S. Congress to scrutinize MSCI over proposed methodology changes that could remove Bitcoin treasury companies such as Strategy and Metaplanet from major equity indexes and place Ethereum treasury firm SharpLink on a watchlist.
In a paper published by Conner Brown on September 30, the same day MSCI's public comment window closed, BPI argued that index providers make discretionary decisions under a passive label. Brown highlighted that MSCI, S&P Dow Jones Indices and FTSE Russell control benchmarks followed by 54% of all long-term U.S. fund assets, with $21 trillion benchmarked to MSCI indexes alone. The think tank said that by adding or cutting a single company, index providers force every tracking fund to rebalance, channeling or withdrawing capital without input from fund managers or investors.
MSCI has long maintained it is neutral, telling the SEC in 2022 that it expresses no opinion on whether any company or investment is good or bad. But BPI pointed to MSCI's September 2025 proposal to remove companies holding at least half their assets in Bitcoin or other digital assets as evidence of discretionary judgment. After pushback, MSCI shelved that plan in January 2026, then opened a broader consultation in August 2026 on "non-operating companies." Applying that methodology to the ACWI IMI index with May 2026 data would cut Strategy, UK uranium holder Yellow Cake, and Japan's Metaplanet, while SharpLink and two others would be placed on a public watchlist.
Strategy has called the proposal "misguided" and a "pretext for targeting Digital Asset Treasury Companies," noting MSCI GIMI-linked funds hold only about 3.1% of its shares. BPI is asking Congress to examine discretionary exclusions, citing a 2023 House investigation that faulted MSCI and BlackRock over investments in blacklisted Chinese firms and a 2024 report claiming MSCI indexes channeled $3.7 billion into entities accused of human rights abuses and military ties.
Brown's remedy is a presumption of inclusion for lawful, liquid, investable equities in broad-market benchmarks, with values-based screens moved to clearly labeled opt-in indexes. MSCI says the comment period closed September 30, with results expected on or before October 16 and any changes folded into the November 2026 index review. It stresses no change is guaranteed. No congressional hearing, formal letter response, or review timeline has been confirmed as of publication.
For passive funds that track MSCI indexes, a forced exclusion would require selling shares of affected companies to maintain benchmark alignment, creating selling pressure independent of company-specific news. With Bitcoin ETF demand surging in Q3 with $6.34 billion in inflows, the question of how legacy index infrastructure handles Bitcoin-treasury companies is becoming more pressing for institutional fund managers.
