Strategy CEO Dismisses MSCI Index Exclusion as Immaterial

Strategy chief executive Phong Le said MSCI's decision to drop MSTR from its flagship indexes is immaterial, arguing that MSCI-linked funds hold only about 3% of the company's outstanding shares. Speaking on CNBC, Le also accused the index provider of taking a stance against Bitcoin.

MSCI plans to remove Strategy from the MSCI USA Index and its global benchmarks after November 30, 2026. The removal follows eligibility rules MSCI adopted in October 2026 that target what the provider classifies as "non-operating companies." Strategy, under MSCI's reading, falls into that category.

Le's defense rests on a single figure: roughly 3% of Strategy's shares sit in MSCI-linked funds. If passive trackers own that small a slice, their forced selling should register as a ripple rather than a wave. The claim, however, comes from the company itself and has not been independently verified in the filing or on-chain record.

What did Le actually say?

Le did not stop at the arithmetic. He framed MSCI's decision as running against the spirit of innovation in digital assets and called the provider's approach discriminatory toward the sector. His comparison was pointed: he likened the treatment to penalizing traditional resource companies over how they run their businesses.

The technical dispute is narrow but consequential. Le argued that digital asset holdings should count as operating assets. MSCI's new rules hinge on exactly that distinction, and its classification of Strategy as non-operating contradicts Le's position directly.

One number complicates the calm. Le said the exclusion could trigger passive outflows of around $2.8 billion if other index providers take similar action against Strategy. That is equivalent to roughly 1.5% of Strategy's total Bitcoin holdings at current market value — manageable on paper, but not trivial. The estimate, notably, applies only to the domino scenario, not to MSCI's removal in isolation.

Even so, Le maintained that Strategy's liquidity will remain robust in the near term. He said the exclusion creates no immediate operational hurdles for the company. That assurance addresses funding and trading capacity; it does not address the reputational weight of being labeled non-operating by the world's largest index provider.

Why does Strategy face this classification?

Strategy is the largest publicly listed corporate Bitcoin holder. The company began building its corporate Bitcoin treasury model in 2020.

As of early November 2026, Strategy held 850,364 BTC, acquired at an average price of $75,456 per coin. That positions the firm's cost basis near $64.2 billion across its holdings — a scale that makes its classification dispute with MSCI a matter of index-construction policy rather than a marginal technicality.

What comes next for MSTR holders?

The immediate stakes are contained if Le's 3% figure holds. MSCI-linked selling alone should be absorbable relative to the full shareholder base, and the November 30, 2026 effective date gives markets a year to reposition.

The larger risk is imitation. The $2.8 billion outflow estimate Le cited applies only if other index providers — S&P DJI, FTSE Russell and MSCI's smaller competitors — adopt comparable rules. Le's emphasis on robust near-term liquidity reads as a direct answer to that concern, though he offered no guarantee about how rival providers will act.

What MSCI's precedent sets in motion is the real question. Other index providers now have a template for excluding Bitcoin-treasury companies, and Strategy's defense — that 3% ownership cushion — will be tested as those decisions land over the coming year.

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By Elena Vasquez, Mempool Brief