The debate over whether crypto-heavy companies belong in major stock indexes is far from settled — and another company in the sector is already stepping into the spotlight.

A few months ago, the index provider considered excluding so-called digital asset treasury (DAT) companies — those that hold more than 50% of their balance sheet in cryptocurrencies. These firms keep crypto assets in a way similar to how traditional corporations hold cash reserves.

Among the companies affected by the proposal was Michael Saylor’s firm, formerly MicroStrategy, now called Strategy (NASDAQ: MSTR). In December 2025, the company pushed back, calling the idea “discriminatory, arbitrary, and unworkable.” Saylor argued the business is an operating company, not an investment fund. Ultimately, MSCI chose not to proceed with the exclusion, allowing Strategy to remain in the index.

Now another Bitcoin-linked company is joining the group.

The MSCI USA Index, which tracks large- and mid-cap U.S. equities and represents roughly 85% of free-float-adjusted market capitalization, often brings automatic inflows from passive funds and increases institutional visibility for companies added to it.

IREN Limited (NASDAQ: IREN) announced on February 13 that it will be added to the index after the market closes on February 27. According to co-founder and co-CEO Daniel Roberts, the inclusion reflects the scale and liquidity the company has achieved and should broaden institutional access as it advances its AI cloud strategy.

The decision is notable because it comes amid the company’s strategic shift away from being solely dependent on Bitcoin mining.

Originally a renewable-powered Bitcoin miner, IREN has been repositioning itself as an AI cloud infrastructure provider. On October 3, the company signed a $9.7 billion GPU cloud services agreement with Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), marking a major step into artificial intelligence computing.

Even so, Bitcoin mining still influences its financial performance. In the second quarter of 2025, the company reported revenue of $184.7 million — about 20% below forecasts — mainly due to weaker mining income, sending its shares down 11.45% after the earnings release.