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

Michael Saylor's Strategy Boosts Latest Preferred Share Raise to $2B From $500M: Bloomberg

The company announced the STRC offering on Monday, originally planning to issue 5 million shares at $100 each.

Strategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor standing. (Nikhilesh De/CoinDesk))

Markets

BONK Jumps 6.5% as Solana-Based Meme Token Captures Market Share

BONK rebounds sharply with bullish momentum after 18% intraday swing, supported by ecosystem expansion and Solana launchpad dominance

BONK-USD, July 24 2025 (CoinDesk)

Finance

Ethena Taps Anchorage to Issue $1.5B USDtb Stablecoin Under GENIUS Act

Ethena's token ENA was up 10%, outperforming the broader crypto market that saw many altcoins plunging overnight.

Digitally altered photo of a dollar bill (Ryan Quintal/Unsplash, Modified by CoinDesk)

Markets

PEPE Plunges 5% on Volume Spike, but Whale Wallets Are Accumulating

Despite the selloff, indicators suggest growing investor interest, including a 3.2% increase in whale wallet holdings and a 2.5% decrease in PEPE on exchanges.

PEPE price chart (CoinDesk Data)

Advertisement

Markets

BONK Tests Support Levels After High-Volume Drop

BONK posted steep intraday losses with 2.8 trillion-token turnover as resistance intensified at higher price levels.

BONK-USD, July 23 2025 (CoinDesk)

Tech

Square Begins Rollout of Bitcoin Payments for Sellers, Targets Full Availability by 2026

Payments are settled in real-near time using Bitcoin layer-2 Lightning, with Square processing the exchange into fiat

Square PoS (Square/Unsplash)

Finance

Goldman Sachs and BNY Mellon Team Up for Tokenized Money Market Funds

The Wall Street banking giants are joining to a growing roster of traditional financial firms to offer tokenized versions of assets.

Goldman Sachs logo (CoinDesk archives)

Markets

Altcoin Season Takes Breather With SOL, XRP, TON Among Those Posting Heavy Losses

Altcoins tumbled Wednesday, triggering over $200M in liquidations and pushing bitcoin’s dominance back past 60%.

Total crypto market cap excluding BTC (TradingView)

Advertisement

Finance

Brazil's VERT Debuts Tokenized Credit Platform on XRP Ledger With $130M Issuance

The offering, with Ripple's contribution, aims to streamline Brazil’s structured credit market and attract foreign investors.

Brazil flag (Shutterstock)

Tech

Ethereum Validator Exit Queue Tops $2B as Stakers Rush to Quit After 160% Rally

The exodus stretched the waiting line to over 10 days, but strong staking demand from ETH treasury firms and SEC clarity may keep sell pressure in check.

Ethereum has a backlog of validators waiting to exit the chain. (Koushik Pal/Unsplash, modified by CoinDesk)