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

Stock market volatility hits one-year high, possibly marking bitcoin bottom

Bitcoin has its own volatility gauge (BVIV), and that spiked in early February, suggesting crypto markets may have already experienced their panic phase.

BTC vs VIX (TradingView)

Finance

'Mini crypto winter' nearly over, says Tom Lee as Bitmine ramps up pace of ether acquisition

The company now holds more than 4.5 million ETH, worth over $9 billion, though it is sitting on a loss of nearly $8 billion.

Thomas Lee, chairman of Bitmine and CIO of Fundstrat, on the main stage during Consensus Hong Kong 2026 (David Paul Morris/Consensus)

Finance

KAST raises $80 million at $600 million valuation to expand stablecoin payments platform

Funding will support product expansion, licensing and compliance as the company scales a platform for cross-border stablecoin payments.

Crypto card payments. (Photo by Thriday on Unsplash/Modified by CoinDesk)

Finance

Bithumb faces proposed 6-month partial ban over South Korea AML breaches

The suspension, according to local media reports, would only restrict virtual asset transfers for newly registered users, not affecting existing customer operations.

South Korea (Photo by Daniel Bernard on Unsplash/Modified by CoinDesk)

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Markets

Michael Saylor's Strategy made $1.3 billion bitcoin purchase last week

The company now holds 738,731 bitcoin purchased for about $56 billion and worth roughly $50 billion at the current price just shy of $68,000.

Michael Saylor, Executive Chairman of Strategy (MSTR)

Markets

Bitcoin tumbles below $66,000 as oil prices explode nearly 20% higher

There was little sign over the weekend of any de-escalation in the war against Iran.

North Sea oil rig.

Markets

Top Wall Street minds see AI rotation ahead as bitcoin seeks role in new cycle

BlackRock’s Rick Rieder, UBS’s Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi and Third Point’s Daniel Loeb see steady economic growth but a tougher market environment.

CoinDesk

Markets

Why bitcoin couldn't hold $70,000 despite its best week of Wall Street news in months

Institutional interest continues to grow, but a stronger dollar and shifting interest rate expectations are keeping a lid on the latest rally.

(Getty Images)

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Markets

BlackRock private credit fund is latest to crack, hitting crypto prices and DeFi markets

Stress in the $3.5 trillion private credit market could ripple into digital assets through both macro contagion and tokenized credit markets, experts warn.

BlackRock logo on a stone block

Markets

Bitcoin buyers are cashing out fast after short-lived jump to $74,000

The sharp move higher triggered heavy profit-taking from short-term holders, data shows.

Bitcoin short-term holder P&L (CryptoQuant)