The index giant MSCI recently decided not to implement the proposal to remove Digital Asset Trust Companies (DATCOs) from global indices in its quarterly review in February 2026. What does this decision mean? Simply put, publicly traded companies with heavy Bitcoin holdings like Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) have temporarily avoided the risk of potentially billions of dollars in passive fund outflows caused by such removals.

Following the announcement, Strategy's stock price surged over 6% after hours, clearly easing market concerns. But this is not an unconditional victory.

MSCI, while announcing the suspension of the removal, also issued a key move: freezing the circulating share count of these companies in the index. In plain language, future share issuances by such companies will no longer be included in the index weight calculations. The cycle of "share issuance - automatic index fund buying - stock price rise," which once existed, is now broken.

The chain reaction of this event is quite interesting:

In the short term, companies can finally breathe a sigh of relief and are not in such a rush to respond to forced sell-offs. But in the long run, the previous approach of large-scale Bitcoin accumulation through equity financing is now essentially unfeasible. Companies must return to their core strength—their actual operational capabilities.

Even more interestingly, this indirectly increases the attractiveness of spot Bitcoin ETFs. Institutional funds that previously allocated to DATCOs stocks may now prefer simpler structured spot Bitcoin ETF products, as these do not carry the complex policy risks associated with listed companies.

MSCI also stated that it will initiate broader market consultations on the definition of "non-operational enterprises." In other words, the debate over how to integrate crypto assets into the traditional financial system is far from over. The game between rule makers and market participants will continue.