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


Finance

Trump Media Closes on Purchase of $105M in Cronos Tokens in Crypto.com Deal

The company added CRO to its balance sheet and will integrate token rewards into its services as part of partnership with the crypto exchange.

President Donald Trump and Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek

Markets

U.S. Added Just 22K Jobs in August as Unemployment Rate Rose to 4.3%

The soft numbers not only cement the case for a Fed rate cut later this month, but likely put a 50 basis point move on the table versus the previously expected 25.

The U.S. released January jobs numbers Friday morning (Ernie Journeys/Unsplash)

Finance

Crypto Exchange Gemini Expands EU Offering With Staking, Perpetuals

The new staking service allows users to earn rewards on ether and solana with no minimum amount required.

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss at the White House on July 18, 2025. (Jesse Hamilton/CoinDesk)

Finance

Stripe, Paradigm Unveil Tempo as Blockchain Race for High-Speed Stablecoin Payments Heats Up

The chain's stablecoin-first design aims to handle global payouts, microtransactions, remittances and AI agentic payments, Stripe CEO Patrick Collison said.

Patrick Collison (Getty images)

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Finance

Mega Matrix Files $2B Shelf to Fund Crypto Treasury Bet on Ethena

The firm eyes to benefit from the rapid growth of Ethena's digital dollar USDe, fitting into a broader trend of listed companies accumulating cryptocurrencies.

Roulette wheel

Markets

Figma’s $91M Bitcoin Bet Isn’t a ‘Michael Saylor’ Move, CEO Says

CEO Dylan Field distanced the company’s crypto position from evangelist extremes, saying bitcoin is part of a diversified cash approach.

Co-founder & CEO of Figma Dylan Field speaks onstage during TechCrunch Disrupt 2022 on October 20, 2022 in San Francisco, California. (Kimberly White/Getty Images for TechCrunch)

Markets

Crypto Treasury Names Hammered Further as Nasdaq Reportedly Ups Scrutiny

The major U.S. exchange will require at least some companies to get shareholder approval prior to raising money to buy crypto, according to The Information.

CoinDesk

Markets

Trump-Linked American Bitcoin Stock Falls Below IPO Price After 15% Plunge

The bitcoin miner, 80% owned by Hut 8 and 20% by Trump family members, saw its stock slide below its $6.90 IPO price just one day after listing on Nasdaq.

Eric Trump, Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer, American Bitcoin speaks at Consensus 2025. (CoinDesk)

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Finance

NFL Opener Draws $600K on Polymarket as Platform Targets $107B Sports Betting Industry

With U.S. regulatory approval in hand, the crypto prediction market is moving beyond politics to challenge the far larger opportunity in sports betting.

Polymarket takes $600K in bets on NFL season Opener (Andrej Lisakov/Unsplash +)

Markets

Public Firm Bitcoin Holdings Top 1 Million BTC

With more than 630,000 coins, Michael Saylor's Strategy leads the pack as that milestone is hit.

High-resolution image of numerous shiny gold bitcoin tokens stacked together.