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

Surf Raises $15M to Build AI Model Tailored to Crypto Research

Pantera Capital led the round, with Coinbase Ventures and Digital Currency Group also participating.

Artificial Intelligence (Markus Winkler/Unsplash)

Markets

GameStop Posted $9.4M Loss on Bitcoin Holdings in Q3

The firm has not announced any new bitcoin purchases since May, when it bought 4,710 BTC.

Gamestop location

Markets

Strategy Pushes Back on MSCI’s Digital Asset Exclusion Proposal

Michael Saylor and team urged MSCI to maintain neutral index standards after a plan to exclude firms with significant digital asset holdings.

Strategy Executive Chaiman Michael Saylor (Gage Skidmore / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Modified by CoinDesk)

Markets

Eric Trump's American Bitcoin and Anthony Pompliano's ProCap Add to BTC Holdings

The shares of both bitcoin-related firms are posting modest early gains Wednesday, but remain sharply lower over the past several days.

Eric Trump speaks at Consensus 2025 in Toronto (CoinDesk)

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Markets

Polkadot Rises 4% as Crypto Markets Stabilize

The token has support at the $2.19 level and resistance at $2.39.

Polkadot (DOT) Gains 2.28% to $2.20 Amid Market Stabilization and Volume Spike

Finance

Sei Wallets to Come Pre-Installed on Millions of Xiaomi Phones

The app will enable peer-to-peer payments, access to decentralized apps, and Web3 exploration, as well as stablecoin payments in retail stores.

Xiaomi smartphone (Li Yan/Unsplash/Modified by CoinDesk)

Markets

Proposed ‘AfterDark’ Bitcoin ETF Would Skip U.S. Trading Hours

The fund would hold bitcoin only overnight, betting on data showing bitcon gains mostly occur outside regular market hours.

Bitcoin and ether sink to multi-month lows (Getty Images/Unsplash+)

Markets

Aptos Rises 8% After Breaking Through $1.80 Resistance

Strong volume and technical momentum distinguished APT's gains from the broader market action.

Aptos (APT) Price Surges 7.53% to $1.89, Breaking $1.80 Resistance with Strong Volume and Momentum

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Markets

Ether Surges 8%, Outpacing Bitcoin Gains Amid Staking ETF, Tokenization Optimism

BlackRock's filing for a staking ether ETF earlier this week has contributed to ETH's relative strength to bitcoin, one market strategist noted.

Ether (ETH) price on Dec. 9 (CoinDesk)

Markets

Michael Saylor Urges Middle East to Become the 'Switzerland of Bitcoin Banking'

The executive chairman of Strategy pitched BTC-backed banking and yield products as a $200 trillion opportunity at the Bitcoin MENA conference.

Michael Saylor, Executive Chairman of Strategy (MSTR)