$15B Sell-Off Risk if MSCI Implements 50% Crypto DAT Rule

Key Notes

MSCI’s proposed 50% crypto asset rule could trigger up to $15 billion in forced selling.
Around 39 crypto treasury companies with $113 billion in market value may be affected.
Strategy alone could see nearly $2.8 billion in outflows, as per analysis.

A whopping $15 billion could be forced out of crypto-linked stocks if MSCI moves ahead with a proposed rule change. If approved, the new guidelines would require major index-tracking funds to dump shares of companies holding more than 50% of their assets in crypto.

Meanwhile, crypto remains range-bound with Bitcoin stuck below $90K but institutions are not backing down. Glassnode has revealed that the average size of BTC treasuries held by public and private companies rose from 197K BTC to 1.08M BTC, a 448% surge since January 2023.

The aggregated size of Bitcoin treasuries held by public and private companies has grown from 197K BTC to 1.08M BTC, a ~448% increase since January 2023.
Corporate balance sheets are becoming an increasingly significant pillar of demand for BTC.
? https://t.co/BG7o6axv1P pic.twitter.com/VWEiIV6lHS
— glassnode (@glassnode) December 9, 2025

Why MSCI’s Rule Matters

MSCI is consulting investors on whether companies with more than 50% of their balance sheet in digital assets should be excluded from its core equity indexes.

We spell out the potential implications of MSCI's proposed 50% DAT exclusion rule: https://t.co/ceJZU0dRTP pic.twitter.com/5CixFrEYVR
— George Mekhail (@gmekhail) December 17, 2025

These firms, popularly called digital asset treasury companies, raise capital through equity or debt and use much of it to buy assets such as Bitcoin.

Related article: Bitcoin's $3,000 Up-and-Down Swing Liquidates 123,200 Traders in Volatile Pump and Dump

MSCI indexes act as benchmarks for passive funds around the world. When a company is removed, funds that track those indexes must sell the stock, regardless of market conditions.

This is why the proposal has raised concern across the crypto space. MSCI plans to share its final view by January 15, with any rule change set to take effect during the February 2026 index review.

$10-$15 Billion in Potential Outflows

BitcoinForCorporations, a group opposing the proposal, estimates that forced selling could range between $10 billion and $15 billion. The group reviewed a preliminary list of 39 affected companies with a combined float-adjusted market value of about $113 billion.

Analysts working with the group calculated expected outflows of roughly $11.6 billion if these firms are removed.

One company alone, Strategy, accounts for about 74.5% of the total impacted market value, and could face around $2.8 billion in selling tied directly to MSCI-linked funds.

Investors were optimistic after Strategy remained in the Nasdaq 100 after its annual shuffle, but it continues to face scrutiny from index providers. The company has formally challenged MSCI’s proposal, adding that it is unfairly targeting a single asset class.

BitcoinForCorporations has gathered more than 1,200 signatures urging MSCI to drop the balance-sheet test. The group had a similar argument that judging companies by a single metric ignores their actual business operations, revenue, and customers.