Shares in Strategy (NASDAQ:MSTR), the company chaired by billionaire Michael Saylor, climbed around 6% in premarket trading on Wednesday after index provider MSCI abandoned a proposal to exclude the bitcoin-heavy firm and other crypto treasury companies from its indexes.
So-called digital asset treasury companies (DATCOs) gained significant traction in 2025 as a growing number of businesses began holding cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, ether and solana as core treasury assets. The trend boosted valuations and offered investors an indirect way to gain exposure to digital assets through listed equities.
Despite the surge in interest, crypto prices have remained highly volatile, a pattern reflected in the sharp swings seen in the shares of many DATCOs. At the same time, uncertainty persists around accounting treatment, with analysts split over whether these firms should be viewed mainly as asset-holding vehicles or evaluated on the basis of their underlying operating businesses.
In a note to clients, analysts at J.P. Morgan said: “For now, MSCI will maintain the current index treatment for DATCOs with digital asset holdings representing 50% or more of total assets.”
MSCI had floated the idea last autumn of removing DATCOs from its global equity benchmarks, arguing that companies primarily holding digital assets more closely resemble investment funds, which are not eligible for index inclusion. The proposal had raised concerns that other major index providers might follow suit.
Companies in the sector pushed back, saying they are operating businesses developing products and services, and that MSCI’s approach unfairly targets firms with crypto-heavy balance sheets.
Commenting on the decision, Mike O’Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading, said: “MSCI intends to open a broader consultation on the treatment of non-operating companies generally… we suspect exclusion is postponed until later in the year.”
Strategy, formerly known as MicroStrategy, began as a software company before becoming the first high-profile firm to adopt bitcoin as a primary treasury asset in 2020. Its move helped ignite a wider trend that later spread to dozens of other companies.
Despite its long-term prominence in the crypto space, Strategy’s shares ended 2025 down 47.5% after a sharp pullback in bitcoin prices weighed on sentiment.