Strategy was again rejected from entering the S&P 500 despite meeting several quantitative requirements, in what experts describe as a conflict between its new corporate model and the index committee’s conservative philosophy. The rejection highlights how the company’s massive exposure to Bitcoin, and its transformation into a digital treasury, complicates its fit in an index designed to represent operational companies.
The S&P committee prioritizes companies whose valuation derives from the production of goods or services and stable operating cash flows; Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, has pivoted toward a significant accumulation of Bitcoin, which has turned much of its valuation into a function of the price of that asset. This structural shift places Strategy outside the profile of a business primarily driven by repeatable operations.
The company has exceeded market capitalization thresholds — reports indicated more than $14.5 billion in 2024 and $18 billion in 2023 — and, in some quarters, showed accumulated profitability, but those quantitative data were not enough. The committee evaluates beyond size and recent profits to ensure entrants reflect the index’s operational economy.
The essentially passive nature of Strategy’s balance sheet, similar to that of a closed-end fund or an ETF, clashes with the index’s intention to reflect the operational economy.
The committee also considers the volatility and systemic risk introduced by a treasury heavily exposed to cryptocurrencies. Strategy’s valuation and earnings are, to a large extent, subject to Bitcoin’s movements, a factor the S&P avoids incorporating excessively to preserve the representativeness and stability of the index.
Why the committee rejected Strategy
Strategy’s rejection contrasts with the inclusion in the index of crypto-native companies that maintain clear operating models: Coinbase entered the S&P 500 on May 19, 2025, which illustrates that the committee admits businesses tied to digital assets as long as their main activity generates revenue derived from services.
In other recent moves, companies like Palantir and Dell were added in September 2024 while SanDisk was chosen in November 2025, evidencing the preference for companies with identifiable operating momentum and revenue streams grounded in services or products.
Market analysts have warned about risks of further exclusion from indices if the proportion of digital assets on the balance sheet exceeds certain thresholds, and decisions by other index providers are expected to set regulatory and market precedents. Strategy’s case has been used as an example of the tension between corporate innovation and traditional indexed criteria, signaling how governance standards interact with evolving treasury strategies.
Strategy’s repeated exclusion highlights a mismatch between corporate models based on crypto-asset treasuries and the S&P 500’s conservative architecture; the decision underscores that the index values stable operating revenues above purely quantitative merits.
