Backlash against financial services firm JP Morgan from the Bitcoin (BTC) community and supporters of treasury firm BTC Strategy continued to grow on Sunday as calls to “boycott” JP Morgan grew.
Anger from the Bitcoin community followed the news that MSCI, formerly Morgan Stanley Capital International, an index company that sets criteria for index inclusion, will likely exclude crypto treasury companies from its indices in January 2026.
JP Morgan shared the MSCI news in a research note. “I just withdrew $20 million from Chase and sued them for credit card misappropriation,” said real estate investor and Bitcoin advocate Grant Cardone in response to a call to boycott the financial services giant.
“Shock JP Morgan and buy Strategy and BTC,” Bitcoin advocate Max Keizer said as the online boycott movement gained steam.
The exclusion of cryptocurrency treasury companies from stock indices could trigger an automatic sale of their shares by funds and asset managers that are mandated to purchase specific types of financial instruments, and could negatively impact cryptocurrency markets.
Related: Saylor ignores suggestion that Wall Street ‘hurt’ Bitcoin amid latest crash
Strategy founder Michael Saylor breaks his silence and responds to MSCI
The strategy entered the Nasdaq 100, a stock index of the 100 largest companies by market capitalization in the technology-focused stock market, in December 2024.
This allowed Strategy to reap the benefits of passive capital flows from funds and investors that own the Nasdaq 100.
The strategy’s founder, Michael Saylor, responded to MSCI’s proposed policy change on Friday, saying: “The strategy is not a fund, nor a trust, nor a holding company.”
“Funds and trusts hold assets passively. Holding companies sit on the investments. We create, structure, issue and operate,” Saylor said, adding that Strategy is a “structured financial company backed by Bitcoin.”
The proposed change to MSCI’s listing criteria would force any treasury company with 50% or more of its balance sheet in cryptocurrencies to lose its index status.
These companies would then face one of two options: reduce cryptocurrency holdings below the threshold to qualify for inclusion in the index, or lose passive capital flows from market indices.
A sudden sell-off by cryptocurrency treasury companies affected by the proposed change at MSCI could drive down digital asset prices., according to analysts.
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