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

ICP Falls Sharply From $5.76 High Amid Renewed Bearish Pressure

Internet Computer drops after touching key resistance, but continued leading all crypto projects in development activity.

ICP-USD, July 24 2025 (CoinDesk)

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)

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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)

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)

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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)

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)