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


Tech

0xbow's Ethereum Privacy Pools Surpass 200 Deposits as User Interest Grows

The system uses zero-knowledge proofs to ensure privacy while maintaining compliance by screening for illicit funds.

Oxbow's Ethereum privacy pools went live early this week. (ChristophMeinersmann/Pixabay)

Finance

Bybit Beefs Up Asset Security Following $1.45B Hack

The attack on Bybit in February, which saw nearly $1.5 billion worth of digital assets stolen, was the largest hack of a crypto exchange in dollar terms ever.

16:9 Security (LEEROY Agency/Pixabay)

Markets

President Trump to Order 'Reciprocal Tariffs' to Begin This Week

Bitcoin retreated to $86,000 in volatile action as the announcements were made.

Trump in the Oval Office

Finance

Wall Street Giant DTCC Unveils Tokenized Collateral Platform in Crypto Push

DTCC is the latest traditional finance firm to tap tokenization and blockchain tech for operational gains.

DTCC is probing the implications of a digital dollar (Kachura Oleg/Getty Images)

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Markets

Avalanche's AVAX Could Rise 10-Fold by 2029: Standard Chartered

Improved scalability should drive activity and value to the Avalanche network, said Geoff Kendrick.

The Avalanche booth at HBC 2022 (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)

Markets

Bitcoin ETFs Could See $3B in Q2 Inflows Even Without Price Recovery, Says Analyst

The spot funds managed net inflows in the first quarter despite declining prices, but how much was true demand and how much was arbitrage remains in question.


Finance

Japanese Banking Giant SMBC Explores Stablecoin Use With Ava Labs, Fireblocks

Sumitomo is the latest example in a roster of firms eyeing the booming stablecoin market, which has grown 50% to around $230 billion in a year.

Japan (Su San Lee/Unsplash)

Markets

China on Watch After U.S. Government Embrace of Bitcoin: Grayscale

Eased policy in China — and signs of this are emerging — could significantly boost bitcoin adoption

(Getty Images)

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Markets

Sentiment Shift in Bitcoin as $80K Put Emerges as Most Popular Bet

BTC put bias is strongest since the U.S. regional banking crisis of early 2023, according to one observer.

Deribit BTC options: Distribution of open interest. (Amberdata/Deribit)

Markets

CME Crypto Derivatives Average Volume Hit Record $11.3B in Q1

A surge in micro futures trading pushed CME’s crypto derivatives volume to the new quarterly record.

CME Group Headquarters (CoinDesk Archives)