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

Weekend warriors: How HyperLiquid became retail’s bear market playground

While bitcoin and ether remain in bear markets, HYPE has climbed alongside gold as HyperLiquid’s derivatives volume expands, weekend equity trading gains traction.

HyperLiquid continues to make money in bear market (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Markets

Bitcoin surges above $68,000 amid muted stock market reaction to Iran war

At their worst levels, U.S. stock index futures had been down more than 2%, but equity markets are barely lower one hour into Monday's trading session.

(Midjourney/Modified by CoinDesk)

Finance

Tom Lee's Bitmine boosts ether holdings to 4.47 million tokens with $98 million ETH purchase

The ether treasury firm now has nearly $10 billion in assets and more than $6 billion of ETH staked.

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

Policy

Turkey's ruling party unveils 10% crypto income tax proposal

The bill proposes a 10% tax on gains from regulated crypto platforms, withheld quarterly, with the president having the power to adjust the rate between 0% and 20%.

Turkish Flag Turkey (Unsplash)

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Markets

Strategy purchased more than $200 million in bitcoin last week

The latest purchase, funded through common and preferred stock sales, lifted total holdings to 720,737 coins valued at more than $47 billion.

Michael Saylor, Executive Chairman of Strategy (MSTR)

Finance

Bitcoin losing trillions in value hasn't stopped traditional giants' interest in digital assets sector

At the iConnections conference in Miami this week, allocators signaled digital assets are now a core sleeve in alternatives.

CoinDesk

Markets

Strategy lifts STRC dividend to 11.5% as MSTR extends monthly losing streak to 8

Led by Executive Chairman Michael Saylor, the company raised the annual dividend on its widely-followed preferred STRC ("Stretch") series by 25 basis points.

Michael Saylor, Executive Chairman of Strategy (MSTR)

Markets

Bitcoin's five-month slide: why BTC is set for worst losing streak since 2018

With BTC down nearly 50% from its peak, analysts are sparring over whether the slump marks early repricing or signals more pain to come.

Bitcoin bus (Photo: Olivier Acuna/Modified by CoinDesk)

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Finance

Citi and Morgan Stanley expand bitcoin and crypto custody, trading and tokenization efforts

As Citi plans to integrate Bitcoin into bank-grade custody and reporting frameworks, Morgan Stanley moves to bring crypto trading, lending exploration and tokenized products to mainstream wealth clients.

Citi building. (Photo: Declan Sun-Unsplash/Modified by CoinDesk)

Markets

Bitcoin's rebound cancelled as U.S. stocks fall, gold surges, amid mounting macro risks

Between credit stress concerns, a hot PPI inflation reading, and tensions between U.S. and Iran, investors have plenty of reasons to stay away from risk assets.

Bitcoin (BTC) price on Feb. 26 (CoinDesk)