Nasdaq announced that MicroStrategy (MSTR), led by prominent Bitcoin advocate Michael Saylor, will be added to the Nasdaq-100 Index starting Dec. 23. MicroStrategy joins Palantir Technologies Inc. (PLTR) and Axon Enterprise, Inc. (AXON) as new additions to the index, according to a Dec. 13 statement from Nasdaq. Meanwhile, Illumina, Inc. (ILMN), Super Micro Computer, Inc. (SMCI), and Moderna, Inc. (MRNA) will be removed. MSTR Now Among Nasdaq’s Largest Companies MicroStrategy, originally a software company that pivoted into becoming a de facto Bitcoin hedge fund in 2020, is now among Nasdaq’s 100 largest stocks by market capitalization. Its inclusion also means that the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), an ETF managing $322 billion in assets, will add MSTR to its portfolio. Crypto Industry Reacts to the News The announcement sparked excitement across the crypto community. Crypto analyst Will Clemente commented on X, “Now that MSTR is getting added to the Nasdaq, every large pension fund, sovereign wealth fund, and individual retirement account in the world is going to have Bitcoin exposure.” Jeff Park, head of alpha strategies at Bitwise Invest, declared, “The trade of the decade is just getting started. Buckle up.” Felix Hartmann, founder of Hartmann Capital, added, “This news is not priced in until public markets open,” predicting active managers benchmarking against Nasdaq would adopt direct exposure to Bitcoin or MSTR to stay competitive. Saylor’s Bitcoin Push Extends to Microsoft This development follows Michael Saylor’s recent attempt to persuade Microsoft’s board to embrace Bitcoin. During Microsoft’s annual meeting on Dec. 10, Saylor proposed that adopting Bitcoin could add nearly $5 trillion to Microsoft’s market cap. “Microsoft can’t afford to miss the next technology wave, and Bitcoin is that wave,” Saylor argued.
