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

Circle's post-earnings surge nears 50% as short squeeze, not strong financials, fuels rally

The violent move had more to do with hedge funds' overcrowded bearish positioning getting wiped out than the company’s financial performance, one analyst pointed out.

Jeremy Allaire, Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO, Circle Speaks at Hong Kong Fintech Week in 2024 (HK Fintech Week)

Finance

Florida man charged with running $328 million crypto Ponzi scheme

Prosecutors say Goliath Ventures’ Christopher Alexander Delgado raised hundreds of millions of dollars, promising investors guaranteed 3% to 8% monthly returns.

(Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash/Modified by Coindesk)

Markets

Bitcoin falls back below $67,000, rapidly giving back Wednesday's gains

The declines are coming as the Nasdaq tumbles nearly 2%, led by a post-earnings selloff in Nvidia.

Bitcoin clawed back above $20,000 after falling below this threshold. (Frederick Bass/Getty Images)

Markets

Bitcoin climbs above $68,500, Circle leads crypto stocks higher, as bounce strengthens

Ether, solana and dogecoin are among the altcoins posting 10% or more advances.

Bitcoin (BTC) prices on Feb. 25 (CoinDesk)

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Finance

Bitcoin treasury firm GD Culture set to sell BTC holdings to fund share buybacks

The company's stock has lost about two-thirds of its value since peaking last year, nearly in step with bitcoin's record price above $126,000.

Stacks of 100 dollar bills (Dmytro Glazunov/Unsplash/Modified by CoinDesk)

Finance

Endowment funds eye crypto allocations amid tougher return outlook for traditional investments

Lower expected gains from traditional assets have prompted some funds to test bitcoin and ether exposure to diversify portfolios.

CoinDesk

Finance

Crypto wallets for AI agents are creating a new legal frontier, says Electric Capital

As AI agents grow more autonomous, developers are already giving them crypto wallets, allowing software to hold assets, pay for services, trade tokens and even hire other agents. The technical pieces are falling into place. The legal ones are not.

CoinDesk

Finance

Payments giant Stripe reportedly mulling PayPal acquisition. Here is what it means for crypto

Bloomberg reported that Stripe — which has growing stablecoin and blockchain ambitions — is exploring a deal for the embattled fintech.

PayPal logo on iphone screen (Marques Thomas/Unsplash)

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Tech

Bitwise's Hunter Horsley says AI Is ‘unstoppable freight train’ for crypto, while Haun’s Monica urges caution

As artificial intelligence races ahead, some crypto executives believe it could become the force that finally pushes blockchain infrastructure into widespread use. Others aren’t convinced the leap is so straightforward.

Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley and Anchorage Digital co-founder Diogo Monica @ NEARCON 2026 (Margaux Nijkerk/ CoinDesk)

Finance

Crypto isn't losing to AI, its just 'capitalism doing its job,' says Dragonfly

Comparisons between AI’s explosive consumer adoption and crypto’s trajectory misunderstand the nature of the products, Dragonfly's Haseeb Qureshi told CoinDesk in an interview.

Haseeb Quershi (Dragonfly) at Consensus Hong Kong