The Bitcoin industry initiative calls for the withdrawal of the ≥50% digital asset threshold in index classification.
Nashville, TN — December 8, 2025 — Bitcoin For Corporations (BFC), in coordination with its member companies and other affected public organizations, today announced a
formal industry challenge to MSCI’s proposed ≥50% digital asset exclusion under its consultation on “Digital Asset Treasury Companies” (DAT).Under the proposal, MSCI would exclude certain listed operating companies from the MSCI Global Investable Market Indexes (GIMI) if digital assets represent 50% or more of their total assets and if their core business is characterized as digital asset treasury. BFC and its member companies are asking MSCI to withdraw the proposed threshold and instead adopt a neutral, operations-based classification framework.
MSCI has long defined companies by what they do, not by what they hold. This proposal abandons that principle for a single asset class. Our member companies run real businesses with employees, customers and revenue. A shareholder-approved treasury decision should not override that reality. – George Mekhail, Managing Director of Bitcoin For CorporationsThe BFC-led initiative brings together public company executives, corporate treasurers and shareholders of the companies directly affected by the proposal. Many of these companies operate revenue-generating businesses while holding Bitcoin as part of a long-term treasury strategy.
Three structural flaws in the proposal
In their formal submission to the MSCI Index Policy Committee, BFC and its member companies identify three fundamental structural flaws that materially distort corporate classification and index construction.
1. Redefining “Core Business” beyond Operations.
Under traditional classification practice, a company’s core business is defined by its operations: the activities that generate revenue and profits. MSCI’s proposal departs from this precedent by allowing a single balance sheet line item to override operating reality.This would allow the market value of digital assets to replace employees, products, customers and revenue as the defining feature of a company’s business. As a result, operating companies could be recharacterized as fund-like entities solely because of the composition of their treasury, even though there is no change in their underlying business model.
2. Selective exclusion of one asset class
. The proposal applies exclusively to digital assets. Companies holding more than 50% of their assets in cash, real estate, commodities, equities or even goodwill face no equivalent reclassification risk.By applying a unique exclusion rule to a single asset class, the proposal creates an explicitly non-neutral benchmark. This introduces structural bias into index construction by treating one treasury asset as fundamentally disqualifying while permitting all others.
3. Creating unpredictable and volatile index composition.
Because the ≥50% threshold is tied to the market price of a volatile asset, index membership would become unstable by design. A company could cross the inclusion or exclusion boundary solely due to Bitcoin price fluctuations, without any operational change, capital restructuring or change in business strategy.This forces turnover for index-tracking funds, increases implementation costs, introduces unnecessary trading activity and degrades the index’s function as a stable market benchmark. It also exposes public companies to mechanical inclusion and exclusion events entirely disconnected from business performance.
Direct impact on public companies
Taken together, these structural problems create serious consequences for publicly traded companies:- Artificial reclassification risk unrelated to business operations – Passive fund outflows driven by index rule mechanics rather than fundamentals- Higher cost of capital due to benchmark exclusion – Increased volatility driven by external price signals rather than operating performance- Structural penalties imposed on shareholder-approved treasury strategies.BFC and its member companies maintain that legal status and regulatory treatment, not balance sheet asset mix, should remain the line that defines operating companies and investment funds.If MSCI intends to change the definition of “core business”, the coalition states that such a framework must be applied uniformly across all asset classes rather than singling out digital assets as the only disqualifying ones.
Formal request to MSCI
Bitcoin For Corporations and its affected member companies formally request that MSCI:- Withdraw the proposed ≥50% digital asset exclusion- Preserve the operations-based definition of core business- Maintain asset class neutrality in index construction- Engage with public issuers and market participants on a business-aligned, multi-factor classification frameworkOrganizations and individual investors can review the full position letter and add their signatures at:
http://msci.bitcoinforcorporations.com/
About Bitcoin For Corporations:
Bitcoin For Corporations is an executive education and advisory network focused on helping public and private companies understand, evaluate and implement Bitcoin treasury strategies. The organization provides research, tools and peer collaboration to support responsible corporate capital strategy.
