Dec 12 (Reuters) – Bitcoin hoarding giant Strategy held on to its position in the Nasdaq 100 on Friday, continuing its year-long outperformance in the benchmark index as analysts question its business model.
Some market observers believe that Strategy’s pioneering buy-and-hold Bitcoin business model, which has spawned dozens of imitators, is more akin to that of an investment fund.
Concerns are growing over the sustainability of cryptocurrency finance companies, whose stocks have proven extremely sensitive to Bitcoin’s volatility.
Nasdaq said Biogen, CDW Corporation, Globalfoundries, Lululemon Athletica, On Semiconductor and Trade Desk have been removed from the tech-heavy exchange’s benchmark index.
New entrants include Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Ferrovial, Insmed, Monolithic Power Systems, Seagate Technology and Western Digital.
Strategy started out as a software company, MicroStrategy, but pivoted to Bitcoin investing in 2020. In December, the company was included in the technology subcategory of the Nasdaq 100 index.
Global index provider MSCI has also expressed concerns about the presence of digital asset finance companies in its benchmarks. MSCI will decide in January whether to exclude Strategy and similar companies.
The changes to the Nasdaq are expected to take effect on December 22. The Nasdaq 100 Index tracks the largest non-financial companies by market capitalization listed on the exchange.
(Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and Ruchika Khanna in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva, Christian Schmollinger and William Mallard)