Michael Saylor's MicroStrategy enters Nasdaq 100

Nasdaq has announced that Bitcoin bull Michael Saylor’s company, MicroStrategy (MSTR), will be added to the Nasdaq-100 Index starting Dec. 23.

MicroStrategy is one of three companies to be added to the index alongside Palantir Technologies Inc. (PLTR), and Axon Enterprise, Inc. (AXON), according to a Dec. 13 statement published by Nasdaq.

MSTR now among Nasdaq’s 100 largest stocks by market cap

Meanwhile, Illumina, Inc. (ILMN), Super Micro Computer, Inc. (SMCI), and Moderna, Inc. (MRNA) will be removed from the index.

The placement means that MicroStrategy, a software company that became a de facto Bitcoin (BTC) hedge fund in 2020, is among the Nasdaq’s 100 largest stocks by market capitalization.

On Dec. 11, Cointelegraph reported that the inclusion in the Nasdaq 100 will add MSTR to the portfolio of Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), an exchange-traded fund (ETF) with approximately $322 billion in assets under management (AUM).

Crypto industry quick to react

The crypto industry was quick to react to the announcement.

Source: James Lavish

Crypto analyst Will Clemente wrote in a Dec. 13 X post, “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.”

Related: Buying the top forever: MicroStrategy bags 21.5K Bitcoin at peak prices

Bitwise Invest head of alpha strategies Jeff Park added, “The trade of the decade is just getting started. Buckle up.”

Saylor recently presented Bitcoin case to Microsoft board

It comes just days after Microsoft shareholders voted against a resolution to add Bitcoin to the company’s balance sheets during the firm’s annual meeting on Dec. 10. 

On Dec. 1, Microsoft’s board heard a three-minute speech from Saylor, who claimed that Microsoft could add almost $5 trillion to its market cap if it were to go all-in on Bitcoin.

“Microsoft can’t afford to miss the next technology wave, and Bitcoin is that wave,” Saylor said in his pitch for Microsoft to convert its cash flows, dividend payouts, debt and stock buybacks into Bitcoin.

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