Bitcoin drops below $26,000 as Strategy and Metaplanet lose MSCI membership

Bitcoin fell to a 12‑week low on Tuesday, slipping below $26,000 as investors reacted to news that Nvidia’s chief executive Jensen Huang will leave the company later this year. The price drop came after a sharp sell‑off in tech stocks, and the cryptocurrency market, already under pressure from weaker demand for mining hardware, took the hit. The decline was the steepest since mid‑April and erased roughly $200 billion in market value in a single session.

The tumble reflects a broader shift in market sentiment. Nvidia’s chips have powered the recent AI boom, and miners have relied on the same GPUs to secure the Bitcoin network. Huang’s announced exit raised doubts about Nvidia’s ability to sustain its rapid growth, prompting a sell‑off in both AI‑related equities and the crypto assets that depend on them. At the same time, Bitcoin’s hash‑rate has been falling for weeks as miners shut down older, less efficient machines, further weakening price support.

Adding to the market turbulence, MSCI announced that two funds – Strategy and Metaplanet – will lose their inclusion in the MSCI World Index on Nov. 30. The index is a benchmark for many institutional investors, and removal typically leads to forced sales of the affected securities. Strategy, a large‑cap European equity fund, and Metaplanet, a technology‑focused growth fund, have both underperformed their peers this year, prompting MSCI’s review. Analysts say the delisting could accelerate outflows and depress share prices, especially as the funds scramble to meet redemption requests.

Investors will be watching how the fallout unfolds. Bitcoin may find a floor if miners receive new, more efficient hardware or if regulatory clarity improves, but the price could stay volatile while tech stocks adjust to Nvidia’s leadership change. Fund managers holding Strategy and Metaplanet will need to re‑balance portfolios before the November deadline, and many may shift assets into MSCI‑eligible alternatives. The combined pressure on crypto and equity markets highlights how intertwined technology leadership and index composition have become for global investors.