Strategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) shares gained around 3% on Wednesday after Chairman Michael Saylor played down the potential impact of the company being dropped from MSCI’s equity benchmarks, a possibility that has weighed on sentiment in recent weeks. A rebound in bitcoin prices also helped lift the stock.
MSCI is reviewing whether firms that primarily hold cryptocurrencies should be included in its indices, arguing they may resemble investment vehicles more than operating businesses. A decision is expected on January 15.
According to estimates from JPMorgan, Strategy could face as much as $8.8 billion in passive outflows if it is ultimately removed from the MSCI USA and MSCI World indices.
“It won’t make any difference, in my opinion,” Saylor said when asked about the potential exclusion, noting that the company is “engaging in that process” with MSCI. His comments were made during an interview at a Binance event in Dubai, Reuters reported.
Strategy has long pursued a model built around accumulating bitcoin within a publicly traded corporate wrapper, offering investors indirect exposure to the cryptocurrency market through traditional equity holdings.
But the strategy has lost favor among investors this year: shares have dropped 37% year to date, a stark contrast to bitcoin’s marginal 0.5% decline over the same period.
The stock’s latest rise coincided with bitcoin’s rebound back toward $93,000 after briefly falling to $83,800 earlier in the week, providing a broad lift to crypto-linked equities.