If the MSCI (formerly Morgan Stanley Capital International) decides to proceed with its delisting proposal and excludes crypto treasury companies from the indices, then these companies could be forced into selling billions of dollars worth of crypto assets.

The trouble started on Oct. 10 when MSCI extended its consultation on excluding public companies with more than 50% of the assets on their balance sheets dedicated to digital assets from traditional stock indexes like the MSCI USA Index.

It is a benchmark that tracks the performance of large-cap and mid-cap U.S. companies, representing about 85% of the U.S. stock market.

Michael Saylor, co-founder and executive chairman of MicroStrategy Inc., during The White House Digital Assets Summit in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, March 7, 2025.

Michael Saylor, co-founder and executive chairman of MicroStrategy Inc., during The White House Digital Assets Summit in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, March 7, 2025.

Crypto treasury companies like Michael Saylor-led Bitcoin (BTC) treasury firm, Strategy (Nasdaq: MSTR), could get excluded from the index if the MSCI proceeds with the proposal despite Saylor’s protest.

If it happens, crypto treasury companies could force sell digital assets worth billions of dollars, as per BitcoinForCorporations.

A group calling on MSCI to withdraw its proposal, BitcoinForCorporations projected that these companies could be forced into selling $10 billion-$15 billion when MSCI implements the proposal in February 2026 index review.

The group identified 39 companies, including 18 index constituents and 21 non-constituents, such as:

Strategy (Nasdaq: MSTR)

Sharplink Gaming (Nasdaq: SBET)

Riot Platforms (Nasdaq: RIOT)

Marathon Holdings (Nasdaq: MARA)

The combined float-adjusted market cap of these 39 companies is $113 billion. Strategy itself represents 74.5% of the total float-adjusted market cap.

BitcoinForCorporations said the MSCI has a “discriminatory” approach towards crypto treasuries as it doesn’t apply any such exclusion rule to companies holding gold, bond, etc. These companies are operating companies, not investment funds, it added.

It instead recommended that the MSCI require “enhanced disclosure” from companies without exclusion.

Related: MicroStrategy sends sharp warning letter to MSCI

This story was originally published by TheStreet on Dec 18, 2025, where it first appeared in the MARKETS section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.