Bitcoin : Strategy escapes the chopping block during the first Nasdaq 100 sorting

There are companies that enter an index like entering a club. And others that enter like triggering an awkward conversation at the table. Strategy clearly belongs to the second category: a listed company, ex-MicroStrategy, becoming primarily a bitcoin accumulation machine. However, during the annual Nasdaq 100 rebalancing announced on December 13, 2025, it did not drop out. The first real test passed since its arrival last December.

An index that cuts, Strategy that stays

Trading volumes drop while the market stalls. In this context, the Nasdaq 100 moved, and not timidly: six exits (Biogen, CDW, GlobalFoundries, Lululemon, ON Semiconductor, Trade Desk) and six entries (Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Ferrovial, Insmed, Monolithic Power Systems, Seagate, Western Digital), with changes effective on December 22, 2025.

In this little game, Strategy stands out as a UFO. Tech by origin, “bitcoin treasury” at heart since 2020, the company sometimes looks more like a market vehicle than a traditional operating firm. This is precisely what makes its retention notable: the index did not “punish” its model, at least for this rebalancing.

Yet, the market did not applaud. The stock closed the session down (-3.74% according to reported figures), and the share drags a sliding slope over the last month. Staying in the index is not enough to calm nerves when bitcoin breathes stronger than your historical business.

A bitcoin treasure that turns heads… and rules

The heart of the matter is the size of the vault. Strategy is today the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, and continues to stack. Latest example: 10,624 BTC bought for about 962.7 million dollars in early December, bringing the total to 660,624 BTC, valued around 60 billion according to market estimates.

At this level, the company almost becomes an equation: “value = bitcoin + premium (or discount) + financing structure.” This is where the question tightens: are we still talking about an operating company, or a quasi-quoted fund with a software veneer?

This is exactly the debate that arises at MSCI. The index provider is examining the possibility of excluding companies whose crypto assets exceed 50% of the total from indices, with a decision expected in January (with a date mentioned around January 15, 2026, in some coverages). If MSCI decides, the impact would not be theoretical: JPMorgan pointed to a risk of forced sales that could reach $2.8 billion via passive funds. 

The Saylor response: “we don’t stack, we finance”

Against MSCI, Strategy favors the structure argument rather than conviction. In a letter dated December 10, Michael Saylor and CEO Phong Le defend the idea of a company issuing different instruments, notably preferred shares, to finance its purchases. According to them, this is a logic of financial operation, and not a simple passive accumulation of bitcoin.

At the same time, Strategy raised about 1.44 billion dollars, precisely to cut short doubts about its ability to pay dividends and debts if the share continued to decline. The mechanism sums it up: when fear settles in, some position themselves on “short bitcoin” as a knock-on effect. 

And the communication goes beyond technical defense. In Abu Dhabi, during Bitcoin MENA, Saylor spoke of “digital capital” and “digital gold,” adding a more ambitious idea: building a form of “digital credit” above bitcoin to produce yield, while attracting sovereign funds, banks, and family offices. This is the final bet: to make it accepted that Strategy is not a market accident, but a deliberate bridge between traditional indices and treasury in BTC.