Bill Miller IV critiques MSCI’s proposal to exclude Bitcoin treasury firms

Bill Miller IV has a problem with how MSCI wants to decide who counts as a real company. On September 29, 2026, the Chairman and CIO of Miller Value Partners submitted a letter responding to MSCI’s consultation on how to classify “non-operating companies” in its Global Investable Market Indexes. His central argument is simple. A rule built to catch Bitcoin treasury firms could also catch companies nobody would call a crypto play, including Berkshire Hathaway. What MSCI is proposing The consultation is widely viewed as aimed at digital asset treasury companies, or DATCOs. These are public firms that hold large amounts of Bitcoin and other crypto on their balance sheets. MSCI’s new approach uses a two-step screen. The first step checks whether a company’s operating assets exceed 50% of its total assets. MSCI ran a simulation using May 2026 data to see who would be affected. Companies including MicroStrategy (MSTR) and Metaplanet were flagged as at risk of removal under the operational asset threshold screening. Strategy, as MicroStrategy is now known, has significantly outperformed the S&P 500 since adopting its Bitcoin treasury strategy in 2020. Miller’s objections Miller’s crit...