Stephen Alpher

Stephen is CoinDesk's managing editor for Markets. He previously served as managing editor at Seeking Alpha. A native of suburban Washington, D.C., Stephen went to the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, majoring in finance. He holds BTC above CoinDesk’s disclosure threshold of $1,000.

Stephen Alpher

Latest from Stephen Alpher


Markets

Bitcoin's Tumble to $91K Evokes Thanksgiving 'Massacre' of 2020

Four years ago to the day, bitcoin plunged about 17% in the span of just over 24 hours.

(Shutterstock)

Markets

CoinDesk 20 Performance Update: XLM Falls 14.6% as All Index Constituents Decline

Bitcoin was the top performer, dipping only 2.5%.

9am CoinDesk 20 Update for 2024-11-26: laggards chart

Markets

Ether Favored in Crypto Rotation as Bitcoin Recoils Off $100K Sell Wall

Traders are rotating profits as bitcoin's rally stalled out, allowing the second largest crypto to shine for at least a little bit.

Ether's (ETH) performance vs. bitcoin (BTC) and the CoinDesk 20 Index (CoinDesk Indices)

Markets

CoinDesk 20 Performance Update: XLM Surges 47.7% as Index Rises Over 100 Points

Polkadot joined Stellar as a top performer, gaining 37.1%.

9am CoinDesk 20 Update for 2024-11-25: leaders chart

Finance

Michael Saylor's MicroStrategy Makes Mammoth BTC Purchase, Adding 55,500 Tokens for $5.4B

This latest acquisition took place over the past few days, with current holdings now valued at nearly $38 billion.

MicroStrategy executive chairman Michael Saylor (CoinDesk archives)

Markets

Dogecoin Jumps on Fresh X Payments Speculations After Elon Musk Tweet

DOGE has a history of moving on Musk comments or payments-related developments of his companies.

(Dogecoin)

Markets

Bitcoin Going to $140K Says Trio of AIs Managing $30M Investment Fund

Intelligent Alpha’s investment committee is composed of three AIs and the fund's CEO tries to stay out of their way.

robot hand holding dollar bills

Policy

Polymarket Blocks French Traders Amid Gambling Inquiry

The prediction market juggernaut is under investigation in the country.

Shayne Coplan, CEO, Polymarket, speaks at Consensus 2024. (Shutterstock/CoinDesk).

CoinDesk Indices

CoinDesk 20 Performance Update: XRP Surges 19.6% As Index Climbs Higher

Stellar also joined Ripple as a top performer, gaining 18.9% from Thursday.

9am CoinDesk 20 Update for 2024-11-22: leaders

Markets

Solana's SOL Surges to Record High Above $260

The token of late has benefitted from multiple catalysts, including meme coin action, growing DeFi activity on the Solana network and the coming crypto-friendly presidential administration.

A Solana booth at ethDenver (Danny Nelson)