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

CME Exploring 24/7 Crypto Trading Expansion, Says Memecoin Products Are Off the Table

Though recently expanding into Solana and XRP futures the derivatives exchange giant is drawing the line at memecoins, citing lack of real-world use.

CME Group Headquarters (CoinDesk Archives)

Finance

Trump-Linked WLFI Token Clears Vote to Become Tradable

Holders voted 99% in favor of enabling transfers and exchange listings for WLFI, which has been locked-up since last year's $590 million presale.

Justin Sun of TRON and Zak Folkman of World Liberty Financial speak at Consensus Hong Kong 2025 by CoinDesk (CoinDesk/Personae Digital)

Finance

Bank of America Joins Stablecoin Rush as CEO Moynihan Says Work Already Underway

Speaking on the second quarter earnings call, Brian Moynihan said the bank plans to act when the time is right.

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan on Fox Business in March. (Getty Images)

Markets

ETH Surges 10% to Year-to-Date Gain as Bitcoin Retakes $120K

It's six month high for ETH thanks to tailwinds from corporate ether treasury strategies and ETF inflows.

Ether (ETH) price on July 15 (CoinDesk)

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Markets

Altcoin Season Returns? Bitcoin Consolidates With ETH, SUI, SEI Among Those Taking Charge

A continued altcoin season will depend on whether BTC continues to tread water near record highs or begins to break levels of support or resistance.

Crypto total market cap excluding BTC (TradingView)

Markets

Cantor Equity Partners 1 Gains 25% on $3.5B Bitcoin Deal With Adam Back

The FT reported overnight of an imminent agreement with the Bitcoin OG to provide CEPO with 30,000 BTC.

Blockstream CEO Adam Back at Consensus Hong Kong in February (CoinDesk/Personae Digital)

Markets

Peter Thiel Reveals 9.1% Stake in Tom Lee's ETH-Focused Bitmine Immersion Technologies

BMNR is ahead 25% today, with ether up another 9% as interest continues to build in ETH corporate treasury strategies.

Peter Thiel

Markets

BTCS Joins Russell Microcap Index as Ether Treasury Firms Continue to Post Big Gains

The move comes amid a broader trend of companies turning to an ether treasury reserve, with several firms seeing significant share price increases in recent weeks.

Stock market price charts (Anne Nygård/Unsplash)

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Markets

Arbitrum's ARB Surges After Appearing Among Supported Chains for PayPal's $850M PYUSD Stablecoin

PayPal's cryptocurrency terms listed the network as a supported chain for its Paxos-issued stablecoin, despite any deal not being officially announced.

PayPal logo on iphone screen (Marques Thomas/Unsplash)

Markets

BNB Climbs as Binance Dominates Q2 Volumes Alongside Broader Crypto Rally

Binance maintained its top spot among crypto exchanges, handling over 35% of global trading volume in the second quarter.

BNB price chart (CoinDesk Data)