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


Pananalapi

Michael Saylor's MicroStrategy Plans to Raise $42B to Buy More Bitcoin Over Next 3 Years

The company reported its third quarter earnings results after the close of trading on Wednesday afternoon.

MicroStrategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor (Credit: CoinDesk/Danny Nelson)

Merkado

Institutional Investors Position for Bitcoin Volatility Into the U.S. Election

Some $350 million notional value of November call options traded on CME with a breakeven bitcoin price of nearly $80,000, anticipating a rally next month, one analyst noted.

(Paul Kenny McGrath/Unsplash)

Merkado

Ether Gains 2.5%, Outperforming BTC and Maybe Primed for More Upside

The second-largest crypto has been locked in a sizable downtrend relative to bitcoin.

ETHUSD chart (TradingView)

Pananalapi

Coinbase, Visa to Allow Real-Time Crypto Deposits Through Debit Card

While millions of users are already using debit cards to connect to their Coinbase accounts, the Visa debit card holders offer near-instant transfers, which wasn’t possible before.

visa, credit cards

Pananalapi

AI Data Collection Startup Sapien Raises $10.5M Seed Funding Led by Variant

The firm's founders, who have worked in the blockchain space for years, are using crypto to incentivize an army of people who can earn from labeling data for AI models.

Left to right; Trevor Koverko, Sunny Ray, Reed Ponak, Rowan Stone, and Tyler Koverko. (Sapien)

CoinDesk Indices

CoinDesk 20 Performance Update: BCH Drops 4.3% as Index Declines from Tuesday

NEAR Protocol was also among the underperformers, falling 2.8%.

9am CoinDesk 20 Update for 2024-10-30: laggards

Merkado

Bitcoin Tops $73.5K, Climbing Just Shy of New Record High

The largest crypto has extended its year-to-date gain to nearly 75% and has more than doubled from year-ago levels.

Bitcoin $73K

Pananalapi

DYdX CEO Juliano Fires 35% of Workforce and Promises Pivot

"The company we’ve built is different from the company dYdX must be," said the CEO.

dYdX founder Antonio Juliano (dYdX)

Patakaran

Crypto Ghosted in U.S. Treasury Department's New Strategy on Financial Inclusion

The report touts strategies to connect people with financial tools, but the only mention of crypto refers to its risks – a contrast to Kamala Harris' positive tone on the campaign trail.

The U.S. Treasury Department's financial crimes arm reported on the use of bitcoin in human trafficking and other global crimes. (Jesse Hamilton/CoinDesk)

Pananalapi

Solana-Based RWA Platform AgriDex Taps Stripe's Bridge to Lower Cost for Agricultural Trade Settlements

AgriDex is an example of how stablecoins are being increasingly used as a payment vehicle in emerging regions as a cheaper alternative for traditional banking rails.

Agriculture (Pete Linforth/Pixabay)