Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) shares climbed Wednesday after MSCI put on hold plans to remove crypto-heavy companies from its benchmarks — a move that eased immediate pressure on firms that have turned corporate treasuries into token portfolios. MSCI had been considering stripping so-called Digital Asset Treasury Companies, or DATCOs, from its global indexes. DATCOs are defined as firms whose digital-asset holdings — Bitcoin, Ether and the like — make up 50% or more of total assets on the balance sheet. That category gained traction in 2025 as more public companies added crypto to their treasuries, giving investors a proxy way to get exposure to tokens without buying them directly. The MSCI pause removes a near-term technical risk for equities tied to crypto, but it doesn’t resolve longer-term questions about index eligibility, Clear Street analyst Owen Lau said. Clear Street also expects MSCI may “grandfather” DATCOs already included in its indexes, shielding existing constituents from an abrupt delisting. MSCI’s original proposal, floated last fall, argued DATCOs resemble investment funds — which are typically excluded from its benchmarks. Many affected firms pushed back, saying they are operating businesses building products and services, and that the proposal unfairly targeted crypto-focused companies. Strategy — the high-profile leader of the crypto-treasury trend after its bitcoin purchases beginning in 2020 — traded up as much as 3.2% in morning action before trimming gains as bitcoin slipped to about $90,900, highlighting how sensitive crypto-linked stocks remain to token price swings. The stock is up more than 4.5% year-to-date. The MSCI decision buys time for the market and for index providers to clarify how to treat firms that blend corporate operations with large crypto holdings. For now, it’s a reprieve for DATCOs and their investors, but the broader debate over accounting, valuation and index treatment is far from settled. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

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